A mad dash

I don't want to stuff this blog full of the activities of one, Aliece JoAnn, but our lives seem to be entertained (if that is the right word) each day by her actions.

During sacrament meeting yesterday, Aliece was pretty clingy with Amber down on the bench. Amber would have to set Alayna down on the floor so that she would hold Aliece. However, Alayna would keep trying to get away from the pews and walk down the isle. Amber would have to grab her and bring her back into the pew-space. At the closing Hymn, however, Amber let Aliece sit down on the bench so that she could attend to Alayna's needs.

We were singing the closing hymn for sacrament meeting when Clark Jensen jabbed the bishop, who then jabbed me and pointed to the side door of the chapel near the stand where we were seated. There was Amber in the doorway holding Alayna and trying to get my attention. When I saw her, he made a "what should I do?" sort of look. I followed her eyes and noticed that Aliece was standing behind the chorister leading the hymn and walking around.

Now most of you know that Amber sits at the back of the chapel in case she needs to take a crying child out without too much disturbance. Also try to picture the pews on the sides of the chapel against the wall - you know how they are angled. Well, Because of the angle of the pews, there is about a five inch gap between the pew edge and the wall. Aliece had squeezed through that space into the row in front of Amber and then she would do the same to the next row, catching stunned looks from the occupants of each row that she would squeeze into. She did this through every row on that side of the chapel. Amber spotted her and ran outside the chapel to intercept her at the doors near the podium, but Aliece was too quick - she was on the stand before Amber could get to her.

Luckily one of the speakers was a friend of Ambers from the relief society presidency. She grabbed Aliece and tried to have her sit there. Aliece sat for about 15 seconds and then hopped up. She came near enough to me that I was able to catch her and set her on my lap - all to the stirring tune of "Dear to the Heart of the Shepherd".