Save our Planet.....Plant a Tree

"E C olog WHY?...Ecology...."
It's a chant that Laila is learning in school as they prepare for their Save the Earth program in the Spring.  She is serious about saving the planet. Laila is worried that there won't be any trees left on our earth when she is an adult.  She spreads this sad news a lot.
Can you say BRAINWASHING?
I am happy that she is learning to be aware of our world, and not liter or be complacent....but she is worried.  She wants to plant trees and more.....ALL OF THE TIME.  
She doesn't need to be worried about this.   
I know, I am shallow...but I want her to be a kid while she's a kid and not worry about environmental issues.


I read a book recently called "101 things to do with your kids before they leave home".....one idea was to plant a family tree.  I liked this idea, except if it gets diseased or  dies, then what kind of message is that sending to your family? So we adapted Laila's need for saving the planet and the family tree idea, and had a pear tree planting for family night. ( no partridge)

We went to J&L nursery and picked out the "perfect" tree.

Hauling it home in the Jaguar was a hoot.  We stuck it through the sun roof and hoped for the best. We only had a little bit of dirt to vacuum off of the seats.

We decided to plant Mr. tree on the sunny, west side of our house....and Laila said she would check on it and water it daily.





Wayne dug directly onto a sprinkler pipe...and into many giant rocks.  He couldn't have found all of this if he tried and had a map. It was pretty funny.

The discussion around this tree was  really good.  We talked about  how deep roots help trees and people face the storms of life and get through.  We talked about having a firm foundation in the gospel and making sure our gospel roots are deep and cared for.  We talked about neglect...and that's how plants and testimonies die.

Monson only helped in spirit.  He just collapsed after a difficult football practice. 

 "Everything hurts."

Laila thought about eating this worm, but decided slurpies sounded and tasted better.

We also talked about family trees and how Laila's looks a little different than Monson's because she gets two starter branches from her birth parents, and two long full branches from her mom and dad.  We also talked about how in the future she won't be at the bottom, trunk section...but she will be a mom and grandma and be in the leaves.  She liked this.

It was a great family night.  It was good to be together, moan together, work together and have slurpies together. 
We can learn a lot from trees.  We need them. 
 It would truly be sad if Laila's future included nary a tree in sight.