Crying @ Choir

 Wednesday night we had dual choir concerts!

6:00 at the Junior High with Devree and 7:00 @ the High School with Austin.

The tears started during Devree's solo. 

She has tried out each and every time this year for a solo and never got one. Well, this one was well worth the wait. She did fabulous! I am trying to video and tears are just running down my face - and my dumb camera has a speaker issue but luckily it picked up her solo well.
I was so proud of her. Now, remember, this is my child that aspires to belt like a black lady. (See video - her solo is about 2:16 and last about 15 seconds!)

We grabbed Dev and rushed over to the High School for concert #2!

They invited all Murray High A-cappella alumni up to join them on the stage to sing the closing number. "Friends". (If you want to hear this song, you can view it here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IbPKaIozS-c ) Yes, that would be me but I wasn't sure it was the same arrangement that we sang my senior year and everyone going up was YEARS younger than me so I didn't go up. 

Well, it was the same song and arrangement that I bawled through my senior year and I sat and bawled through it -remembering every word by the way - in the audience 24 years later. 

Glad I didn't go up. 

I would be the old crying lady. I'm sure Austin would have loved that!

I had to go show a house quick afterwards and asked James to get a picture of Dev & Austin in their choir outfits. (If  I had been there, I would have made Austin give me a more sincere smile but since this is all I've got.....here it is!)

Austin is done with choir and Dev's not sure she can fit it in her sophomore year. I've been attending choir concerts 4 times a year for eight years straight and most the time at two different schools and it sort of makes me sad to think about not going next year.

Then I remembered. 

Alex is singing in 7th grade boys choir. 

And you KNOW Rylee will be in choir the next year.

So, I figure I have at least eight more years to go!

Maybe I can manage to sing with the A-cappella WITHOUT crying by then?

Nah....

I'll probably just cry harder!

"I don't know."

Alex has really needed a haircut. Like two weeks ago. I took him with me to Wal-mart and thought he could get a haircut while I got my toes done. (My mom gave me a gift certificate for a pedi for Mothers Day) but I am not going to pay $15.50 for a boys haircut at a place where the girl probably graduated last week so I made him an appointment with my trusty neighborhood lady for the next day and he wondered around the "weapons" department of Wal-mart and had a treat at McDonalds waiting for me.

Alex told me on the way into Wal-mart that he didn't want to talk to the girl about his hair. 

Okay.

So when I made his appointment with my lady, I sent a text telling her he wanted to leave it long in a "shag" and to just shape it and clean it up. Well, she didn't get the text and asked Alex what he wanted. Since he used his standby "I don't know." answer, and when asked what his mom wanted, got the same "IDK" he got a little boys short haircut. 

He looks like he should be Alfalfa on Our Gang. It is sooo short!

My hairdresser got the text after he left and freaked out, calling me and apologizing and telling me how he wouldn't tell her anything. 

Good grief. No worries. It's just hair. 

When he got home - he went straight to track practice - I told him if he cannot communicate better than "I don't know." then that's what he's going to get. He sighed. 

My poor boy.

It's not that it's a bad haircut. It's just when I picked him up at the orphanage he had a similar, very short cut and it makes him look so orphan like. Especially when he combs it down straight. 

Oh well. It's summer. It will grow. 

Maybe next time, he'll remember that "I don't know" isn't always the best way to communicate. 

Why didn't I think of this before?

I mentioned before about Alex and his purchasing of 25 cent books?

Well, the school library must be cleaning out their shelves again.   He came home yesterday with a big DICTIONARY. He was so excited. He asked me if I knew that an "ass" was another word for a donkey? Yep. I did know that and apparently he does now too.

Then he informed me that he is going to give me a quiz on the four new words he learned that day in his dictionary.  (Ass was one of them!)

Bring it on Alex! I love it!! 

(And I happen to have a pretty good word usage vocabulary!)

I knew the four words he randomly picked out during school yesterday (Yes, he picked out four random words, studied them and then came home, looked them up -actually remembering them - and quizzed me on them! ) Then he started quizzing me on the presidents of the United States. Oh dear. I did pretty good for the first few, with the help of him giving me initials I got to Abraham Lincoln - more or less (I kept saying "Abraham Lincoln" after the first five but apparently I have forgotten that Abe wasn't in office until #16!)  then we skipped up to more current presidents until we hit Ronald Regan who was currently in office when the book was published. (Yes, that would be sometime in the 80's - it's an old book, hence the 25 cent price tag!)

He came down and quizzed Rylee and me on measurements, temperature & time while I made dinner. (We are terrible at metric measurements and Celsius but we did okay with inches & feet and Fahrenheit and Rylee did better than me on a few things!)

This is amazing! Why didn't I think of this sooner. Let HIM be the teacher? 

Why?

Because if I had thought of it, he would have still hated it. But since it was his idea? He loves it!!

He quizzed Devree and her friend then my mom came over and he tried to quiz her too!

He's learning and he doesn't even know it!

For FHE Devree and her cute friend Emily practiced giving us a lesson on Howard W Hunter. They have to give a lesson in seminary today. They did a great job. Afterwards we played "Headbandz" a game where you wear this silly looking head band and have a card of a who, what or where on your head that you cannot see and you have to ask yes or no questions and guess what card is on your head. Rylee has been trying to get us to play this game for days. 

When she told me she wanted to play it, I told her I didn't think Alex could. She showed me how some of the cards are marked with stars and are easy. Like "doorknob" and "nose". Okay. We'll try it. One thing Alex is, is a good sport. (Now that is.)   

Rylee's first card was "Jackass" and Alex was so excited because he knew what it meant thanks to his new 25 cent DICTIONARY!

If you cannot guess your card in one minute of yes or no questions, you get one more minute and everyone gives you one word clues. Alex did pretty dang good at that part too. Giving the clue "Ocean" for my card "Atlantis". 

We all managed to get all our cards figured out with the one word clues. However, Alex just happened to draw the Abe Lincoln card and it did NOT have a star on it, it was a normal card.  I told him I KNEW he could get this. He asked his questions, narrowing it down to a dead guy, in America and a president and then asked, "Is he the 16th president?" "Yes!" "Abe Lincoln?" "Yes"  He got it without any one word clues thanks to our quiz that afternoon. You should have seen Kambree's look of surprise! 

Priceless!

This morning he looked at me with a twinkle in his eye and told me he had packed his "Dictionary" and it going to learn four more words today and come home and quiz me.

I tried to look concerned.

Teeheehee......

Saturday Marathon!

The day started out bright and early with my first 5K! Yikes! I am happy to say I lived. Sore today but still alive.

Here's Amy and I BEFORE the race. (I've been blogging about this. Remember, I am NOT a runner? We've been training since the end of December and set May 21st as our first 5K. At the time that seemed a long time away but what do yo know? The day came! Gulp.)

And after the race with our "swag". (We made a mental note that if we want to get a banana, we need to either run faster or at least go straight to the "swag" table after we run!) Amy blogged about our race too. You can read it here.

My goal was to not stop. Which I didn't but I did do some brisk walking and had to tie my shoe - twice - and stop for a car to pass - which was not my fault. 

Amy on the other hand ran the whole time! (Woot Amy!) See that green jacket around her waist? I fell behind and would just keep an eye on her green butt so I wouldn't get too far behind. I knew I'd catch up in the end as I finish stronger than I start. Yep, I did. We crossed the finish line together but she deserves the biggest cheer for not ever walking!

Everyone has been asking, "So did you like it?"  Uhhh . . . nope! But I am proud that I did it and I plan on doing it again. I told James I'm going to keep doing it until I learn to love it! I know my inner runner is in there somewhere, she's just buried very deep and prefers to eat chocolate, read blogs and go shopping!

Then I got home, showered and met Devee at the high school for the senior mother/daughter luncheon where she was introduced as a M.A.G. (Murray Association of Girls) sophomore officer for next year.  (I forgot my camera so here is a side was shot on my cell phone.)

And one of us together. (Which Devree took with the phone the right direction.)

After the luncheon was cleaned up, I went home and took a nap (for twenty minutes) went grocery shopping, wrote up an offer, got it signed and faxed, made dinner, fed everyone and we were off to Devree's dance recital!

Dev dances at the same studio as my little niece Sydni. So it was especially fun because we had a dancer in the most advance class and the littlest class.

Dev with her friends...

And Grandma Nan....

Grandpa....

Brianna & Dev (both are in MAG together next year!)

Friend from class

And me with my glasses on and bad hair. (It's been a long day by now.)

At ice cream afterwards....

Whew! Even though the official race was over in less than 35 minutes,  the whole day was a marathon!

A Safe Place...

Yesterday I read a sweet blog post from one of my friends that just recently adopted. She has a son with special needs and talked about how he was her "safe place" and how she is currently the "safe place" for her littlest son and newly adopted daughter. It was a sweet post and it made me think about my "safe place" and if I am a "safe place" for my children. I had never really thought about it before...

Last night, after Devee's dance recital we went to ice cream with my sister and her in-laws and my parents. The table was crowded and Rylee had crawled on my lap and Alex had pulled up a chair next to me and I could feel him laying his head against my arm as I held Rylee. Devree jokingly tried to get on my lap too and I tried to wrap my arms around everyone. I felt like the old woman in the shoe....without enough lap for everyone.

This morning I was up early - this mid life of mine has prevented me from sleeping in - and I was returning some emails and checking my facebook when Alex stumbled in rubbing the sleep from his eyes. I am at the computer A LOT so he has a way of standing next to me and giving me a side hug and leaning over to put his head on my head. I swiveled around on my chair asking how he slept and he immediately climbed on my lap, wrapped his arms around me, laying his head on my shoulder with his legs hanging off the chair awkwardly. I joked about what are we going to do when he gets bigger?  He told me we'd just have to hug standing up. I told him maybe I would have to sit on his lap?  We hugged for a minute and I asked him what he was thinking? He could see the game of "Life" on the table and said "About playing Life." 

As I sat there holding him, I tried again. 

"What are you thinking when you want to hug me like this?"
"I like to hug"

"Oh. You like to hug? So anyone would do huh? A stranger on the street?"

"No! I like to hug YOU!"

Ahh...thanks.....why?

"Uhm....when I hug you....I feel safe." 

Life Lessons 101

Alex's way of dealing with things is to just ignore them.

His mind set is: So what if I got caught lying over and over, trouble at school, disobeying, breaking the rules. Today is a new day and that is all behind me. 

Yesterday, Alex was his chipper self, acting like everything was normal but I just couldn't move forward from our no good, terrible, very bad day the day before.

I needed closure. 

I had forced him to write apology notes but not once did he express sorrow or regret to me about his behavior. 

So here goes lecture #897.....

I asked him if he felt that things were "good" between us.

He hung his head.

No.

Did he like his peanut butter sandwich?

No.

How did it make him feel to get a peanut butter sandwich?

Bad.

I explained that he got a peanut butter sandwich because I "just felt" like giving him one. Just like how he "just didn't feel like brushing his teeth". 

Then we got into the nitty-gritty. He feels bad ONLY because he got caught and because he is now paying the consequence (no screens) and he broke down sobbing because,  "He can't be with family."

It was all about the consequence and getting caught.

No sorrow for the sin (lying, disobeying or just hygienic reasons - not brushing your teeth!) 

This goes to show where his maturity level is. Somewhere between the ages of 4 and 8 don't you think? When you don't do things for fear of trouble not for sorrow for sin? 

We talked about how we can't just think a "new day" will solve the problem. That if someone beat him up one day, would he just be their best friend the next day? No. He would still feel bad. I told him how I still feel bad. I told him I know he still feels bad about how his Ukraine mom treated him because she never said she was sorry or asked for forgiveness for the mean things she did. And that I feel bad in my heart for the things he did yesterday. Especially the lying. How when you trust someone, you give them part of your heart and when they break that trust, it breaks your heart. (I know that was a little dramatic but I was going for effect here.)

We talked about "sugar" coating things. How "accidentally" watching screens is not hiding in a corner so you can see the TV. There was nothing accidental about it. Or how looking at his DS (like he told me) is different from PLAYING with his DS. (Last weeks incident that got him sent to the principles office.)

I talked to him about his feeling sorry for getting caught and sorrow for his punishment is the only sorrow he's feeling and when he starts feeling sorry for actually telling lies (or disobeying or cheating)  regardless of being caught, and hurting people that love him that is when he will be the maturity of his age. 

That Heavenly Father knows everything, even if he never gets caught.

We talked about how when he looks in the mirror, he wants to look at an honest face. How much easier his life would be if he had nothing to hide from. No lies to cover up no worries if mom called for him. He wouldn't have anything hanging over his head. 

Then we talked about the basic steps of repentance:

• Feel you’re sorry.
• Say you’re sorry.
• Ask for forgiveness.
• Pray for forgiveness and strength to overcome sin
• Try never to do it again.

He was very contrite and trying to hold it together.

I had to go show a house and then go straight to Young Women's. He had to get to scouts and when we all arrived at home that night he came into my office, shut the door asking if he could talk with me.

Sure.

He looked right into my eyes, never waiving and said, "I want to confess. I confess I lied, I didn't brush my teeth, I took rubber bands to school, I didn't listen to my teacher, I didn't respect the "guard" and I am sorry."

Oh, my. It was like balm to my soul

And I didn't even realize just how much my soul was hurting until I held him in my arms and he cried and I cried and I told him I forgave him.

I know. It was a forced "confession" but at least it was a willing one.

Besides, it was a lesson he had never learned. How to repent. How to ask forgiveness. How we just don't "ignore" things and they'll go away.  We teach our children in nursery, primary and in simple Family Home Evening from a  very early age these very basic lessons and he missed all that. But that hadn't dawned on me when I was so mad and spiteful and wanting to take away every privilege and joy he had. I was hurt! I wanted him to learn this lesson once and for all!  But, once again, after working it through and kicking against the pricks, I realize that this is new for him and his maturity level is NOT where it should be and it won't be without some really basic remedial lessons about life and relationships.

((Sigh))

I know that Alex needed to be "rescued" from the orphanage, that he needed the love of a family, the guidance of parents and that he had a  lot of life lessons to learn what I didn't realize it that I still have so much more to learn about parenting, patience and love myself.

That Father in Heaven of ours is a tricky one.....

Nope. Not going to mention.....

So, some days I get sucked into my blog. I just start clicking on the "you might like" entries at the end of my post and read what I wrote. Sometimes I think "Oh, I remember this" or I think "I almost forgot that." and it's sort of fun. To have this documentation of our life.

But what I'm seeing as a reoccurring theme is numerous lectures/talks/rants with or about Alex.  It's so the same. Over and over. Like a broken record.
It's so bad that I've decided that for today I just shall not bore you all to tears with more details of dealing with Alex .  

I will not write about how Alex got in trouble at school yesterday for bringing rubber bands, trouble for not obeying, trouble for having his I-pod, trouble for acting disrespectful to the playground lady, AFTER our lying and not brushing our teeth morning yesterday and the three days of revoked screen privileges and our little "treat him like a three year old" experiment.

I will not write about how he had to write apology notes to his teacher and said play ground lady. Write in his journal about his terrible, no good, horrible day. And pay me $2 for the rubber bands he took and gave away to his friends.

I will not write about how he called me while out last night, wanting a Klondike bar and I told him to call me back when his jobs were done (because he had yet to do his jobs due to the time spent with my lecturing/his writing about the days events) only to have him call me back and with a contrite voice "confess" that he "accidentally" forgot he was grounded from screens but got caught watching TV by his siblings. I told him to take his bath and go to bed (which he should have been doing in the first place) but then how he happily asked if NOW he have a Klondike Bar? ( I said no.  I didn't think he deserved any treats based on how his day had gone.)

Then I of course will not mention how the older kids told me, when I got home, how  he  was hiding around the corner where he could not be seen watching TV -which could not possibly be an accident - and that they asked him if he was going to tell mom or should they? (And that is why he called.)

And I will not wrap up this post with discovering his toothbrush slightly damp from his forced morning tooth brushing and proof that teeth were NOT brushed before bed or that I woke him up and brushed them at eleven o'clock at night. I wouldn't even mention that he has yet to admit they were not brushed. He just claims he brushed them with a "dry' toothbrush. (What the heck?)

I will not share that he got up this morning without a care in the world and wanted to know if I wanted to see his cool trick with a rubber band? And I told him no. I don't want to hear about rubber bands right now - since they were why he got in trouble in school in the first place yesterday.

That I made him bring me a WET toothbrush with paste and brushed his teeth myself.

I then would not mention how I packed him a peanut butter only sandwich because he hates them and when he asks why or complains that I am going to use his excuse for not brushing his teeth for over two days.  "I just felt like it."

Nope. Not going to mention any of that....

Austin Update and FHE review.....

Austin

Austin has decided he needs a new hair cut. A "fashionable" hair cut. I think he wants to go to some swanky salon or something. We usually go to a lady in our ward. She has a salon in her basement and she does a fine job but Austin is of the opinion that he needs MORE in a haircut.

Then he pointed out that I spend MORE on Ella's haircuts than his.

True.

A dog grooming cost about $38.

He had me there.

But then I reminded him that besides a few haircuts a year and a couple of bags of dry dog food, Ella doesn't cost anything more. Would he like to go on Ella rations?

 I got him there.

Later he said he would go to Ella rations for one day and then switch back to Austin rations.

His buddy invited him to Lake Powell this week. DURING SCHOOL. He'll need to miss Thursday, Friday & Monday. James and I discussed it and decided that all his grades had to be above a C to go and low and behold they now are! It's amazing what he can do with a Lake Powell Carrot dangling in front of him.

Family Home Evening

Last night we went to Smiths for family night.

That's right.

Smiths - the grocery store.

Woot.

At least we were all together. Kambree & Devree needed to buy hair spray, teeth whitener and hair color. All things I do not supply and Rylee needed snacks for her class for testing this week. (She also told me she needs me to make blue berry pancakes in the morning "Because blueberries have anti-oxidants and will help me score better on my tests." Oh my. Luckily I just happened to have blueberries in the fridge. Alex told me he needs TWO eggs, TWO pieces of toast and TWO glasses of milk. Both approached me at different times with their breakfast requests. Apparently the teachers are pushing breakfast this year. We had pancakes this morning and we'll do the DOUBLE egg and toast tomorrow.)

We bought Klondike bars as our treat and on the way home Alex was signing "What would you do for a Takewon bar." (Teeheehee.)  Then he started singing a song his friend made up but then would abruptly stop. Apparently the last verse wasn't very nice. The sisters talked him into telling it to them. The song went something like this:

I believe I can fly

I believe I can touch the sky

My mother hit me with a chicken wing

I hit her with my ding-a-ling.

The kids burst out laughing! 

I asked Alex if he knew what his friend was referring to when he used the word "ding-a-ling" 

Yes. A p*nis. 

Great.

Maybe we shouldn't hang out with this friend any more?

Then Austin had to share the correct slang terminology (or at least what his friends call it) for hitting someone with a ding-a -ling. 

Double great.

Kambree asks how come he knows all this gross stuff? She went to high school, she's never heard all these crude things that he enlightens us about.

"Cause I hang out with guys." Was his reply.

I invited him to start hanging out with girls more!

Good grief!

And that was family night?

The Truth Brush!

This trust thing is so hard for Alex.

Last night I listened to his prayers, "Please help me with trustworthy."

Man-o-man does he need help from a higher source!

This morning while straightening the kids bathroom, I noticed Alex's tooth brush was bone dry. As in, hasn't-been-used-for-days dry.

I went downstairs and pulled him into the main bathroom to fix the back of his hair and asked if he was already for school.

A: Yes.

M: Are your teeth brushed?

A: Yes.

M: No, they're not Alex. No screens for the day. Do you want to tell me the truth now?

He turns and looks me in the eye,

A: Yes, they are brushed.

M: Okay. No screens for two days. When are you going to tell the truth Alex?

He looks at me imploringly, nodding that they are brushed then drops his head and looks at the floor and mumbles, 

A: No, they are not brushed.

M: Okay. No screens for three days and go brush your teeth.

I am fit to be tied at this point.

As he's brushing his teeth I come in and ask why he lied?

He shrugs.

M: Only you know. No one else knows what's going on in your head. Why would you not just brush your teeth? And worse, why would you lie about it? Now you've got a three day punishment. 

The only thing he can come up with is, he just doesn't want to brush his teeth.

I am just baffled.

M: Can you answer me something else.... honestly? When was the last time you brushed your teeth?

He thinks. He counts on his fingers.

A: Saturday?

M: Today is Tuesday and you haven't brushed since Saturday?

I am flabbergasted. (Picture steam coming out of my ears!)

I tell him he can go down and write in his journal why he doesn't want to brush his teeth and lied to his mother about it. (I know, stupid writing assignment but I'm just so mad that I want to ground him from everything and and anything and just make him suffer but I can't think of anything but a writing assignment!!)

As I'm trying to calm down I come up with a brilliant idea. If he's going to act like he's three, I'll treat him like he's three.

I go downstairs and get his glasses out of his locker and tell him "Here little guy, you forgot your glasses" (which he's refusing to wear these days -the novelty has worn off) and I kindly put them on. Then I asked if I could see he shoes.He looks at me a little confused but shoes me his feet.  "Oh, good they're tied" I say and "I've already combed your hair and I know you've brushed your teeth. Do you need to go potty before leaving for school Alex?" He growls a "No!" I then quietly tell him (because I have a house full of girls getting a ride to school) that I am going to treat him like a three year old because he's been acting like one. Then I ask him to read to me what he has. "I can't if I'm little" is his retort. (Oh, he's a smart one!) "I explain in very simple terms just read what you've got means to read to me what you've got so far sweetie." (I am ignoring the I can't if I'm little remark and instead pretending that he cannot understand my question.) He reads to me about how he lied to his mom about brushing his teeth and now he has to write a "lie note". It's time to go so I ask if he has his lunch? His school work? I help him get his jacket on and his backpack and then when it's time to get in the car I follow him out, open the door for him and then an then put his seat belt on. He is sitting ridged like a robot. He is so not happy about this. I quietly ask if he likes being treated like this? "No" he grumbles and refuses to look at me. (Sort of like "If I ignore her she might go away attitude.)  Then I remind him again, if he's going to act like a three year old that cannot remember to brush his teeth and then lie about it, then this is how he'll be treated for the next three days.

He is angry and stares out the passenger window.

I was taking Ella to the groomers after I drop the kids off so I have the girls hand her up and Alex hold her while they get out. (I think I've done pretty well to NOT let them see how I'm treating Alex. I really have been discreet.) I just happen to have my friends 4 year old for the morning so she's the only one left when after the other girls get out, I inform Alex that I would never let a 3 year old walk to class by himself. I will need to hold his hand and walk him to class. His eyes fill with tears. I then ask again if he likes to be treated this way? "No." I ask why? "Because it's embarrassing." I tell him that I don't know what else to do. Maybe he just missed these lesson when he was three and we need to go back so he has a chance to learn them? When you are three you learn to brush your teeth every day and not to lie.

Maren pips up from the back seat. "I never lie. I always tell the truth"

"Good job Maren."

Then I tell him the worst part for me is I was trusting that he was brushing his teeth all this time but now I can't trust him. And if he's lying about this what else is he lying about? Now I need to go back to where we were two years ago when he first arrived home. Remember how he wouldn't brush his teeth?

Maren pipes in again "I always brush my teeth."

(I am loving this little girl reinforcing that even SHE knows these basic life lessons!)

I have him look me in the eye - something he still struggles with when he's in trouble - and I tell him I will stop treating him like this right now if he will promise to do better right now!

He promises.
At some point Maren also added an "Alex you know better!" (Go Maren!)

In hindsight, I shouldn't have taken away the screens. If only I had thought of my brilliant three year old consequence earlier! I should have treated him like a three year old for three days. I think that would have sunk in more. He certainly doesn't like it WAY more than losing screen privileges.
Imagine what fun we could have had. I would have only let him watch PBS kid shows, cut up his meat, held his hand in the parking lot, brushed his teeth myself, put him to bed at seven etc. I really think that would have more effect then a screen grounding. He just came off being grounded from screens all weekend for numerous missing school assignments. 

Yes. Three year old treatment is going to be his consequence for lying from here on out! 

But I'm hoping and praying.....this morning of three year old treatment will be enough to get him to TELL THE TRUTH!

Honestly, all this would have been avoided if when asked if he had brushed his teeth, he had said "No" and gone and done it......

Funny Alex Stuff....

Alex came down ready for church yesterday with this lovely hair style.

Alex: Mom, who do I look like?

Mom: Uhmm......a vampire?

Alex: No, Joseph Smith!!

I laughed so hard! Yes, I can see the resemblance!

(Then he told me, I could go ahead and put that on my blog.)

During dinner we were talking about missions as my cousin's son just left for his and is going to the MTC in England. Alex wanted to know what the MTC was and if he could leave for his mission ON his 19th birthday? Then he was wondering out loud where he might go? Rylee teased him he'll probably have to learn a THIRD language. Austin jokingly told him that maybe by the time he goes on a mission, they'll be sending missionaries to the moon?  I responded "Yeah, right Austin, who would he teach the Gospel to on the moon?" To which Alex quickly replied "The astronauts!"