I'm finally getting this list complied, (it's May) and I'm sure I've forgotten some things. Hopefully I'll keep better track next year!
We've Given Up the Easy Life for the Good Life
Wednesday, December 31, 2014
2014 Booklist
I'm finally getting this list complied, (it's May) and I'm sure I've forgotten some things. Hopefully I'll keep better track next year!
Christmas Break
Ahhhhh.
And when we got home, we still had a week of Christmas break left! And we came home to over a foot of snow with more to follow. Christmas Eve brought the white Christmas that everyone in both Utah and Idaho had been wishing for! It was the perfect time to have fresh snow! Dallin and the boys got to try out the new snowblower, and the kids played in the snow for hours every day. I was surprised at how much 2 year old Sullivan loved it! He wanted to be out there with the big kids, and he didn't give up and come in after 15 minutes like most 2 year olds. I'd go out there to play with him a little and pull him on the sled, but he'd turn me down to get back to the game with the other kids. The big boys made a cool slide that wound down the deck stairs, down the patio stairs, and onto the patio by the shed. It was steep and fast, but the kids loved it. Then they got really creative and made a slide down the roof of the racquetball court. That one was much steeper, and caused some mommy heart palpitations. They had fun and nobody got hurt.
We took the little kids sledding up at the church, where there is a little steep hill. It was perfect. We didn't have to do a lot of hiking and we were close to the car and it was just fun enough. Dallin took the bigger kids to the golf course later for some extreme sledding. I was happy to stay home with the littles. I've done the golf course thing with little kids before, and it just didn't seem worth it.
We were able to relax and enjoy each other, play games, watch movies, and do some long awaited home improvement projects! My dream vacation!! We got our basement cleaned and organized in a way that is so much less crowded and more user-friendly. We got a motion detector light installed in sthe ceiling of the boys' closet so we don't have to jump up and try to hit the switch on the ceiling! We cleared out the big basement room to make it more usable for exercise and organized some of the toys and dressups down there. The kids have spent so much more time enjoying that area, and I love it! We got some shelves put up to clear out some floor space in the game room which made the upstairs bedrooms less cluttered. Every bedroom got deep cleaned (except mine). That will for sure happen before the baby comes! But it was so fun working with Dallin and playing with the kids. I LOVED not having to go anywhere. It was a true break and I felt more prepared for the New Year than I ever have.
We rang in the new year with our younger kids because the big boys were invited to dances and parties. We watched movies and ate snacks. We watched the ball drop at 10:00 and pulled party poppers and threw streamers and made lots of noise and danced around. It was perfect!
We have had a truly blessed year! We have so much to be grateful for, and I loved spending the final week with my favorite people in my favorite place.
And when we got home, we still had a week of Christmas break left! And we came home to over a foot of snow with more to follow. Christmas Eve brought the white Christmas that everyone in both Utah and Idaho had been wishing for! It was the perfect time to have fresh snow! Dallin and the boys got to try out the new snowblower, and the kids played in the snow for hours every day. I was surprised at how much 2 year old Sullivan loved it! He wanted to be out there with the big kids, and he didn't give up and come in after 15 minutes like most 2 year olds. I'd go out there to play with him a little and pull him on the sled, but he'd turn me down to get back to the game with the other kids. The big boys made a cool slide that wound down the deck stairs, down the patio stairs, and onto the patio by the shed. It was steep and fast, but the kids loved it. Then they got really creative and made a slide down the roof of the racquetball court. That one was much steeper, and caused some mommy heart palpitations. They had fun and nobody got hurt.
We took the little kids sledding up at the church, where there is a little steep hill. It was perfect. We didn't have to do a lot of hiking and we were close to the car and it was just fun enough. Dallin took the bigger kids to the golf course later for some extreme sledding. I was happy to stay home with the littles. I've done the golf course thing with little kids before, and it just didn't seem worth it.
We were able to relax and enjoy each other, play games, watch movies, and do some long awaited home improvement projects! My dream vacation!! We got our basement cleaned and organized in a way that is so much less crowded and more user-friendly. We got a motion detector light installed in sthe ceiling of the boys' closet so we don't have to jump up and try to hit the switch on the ceiling! We cleared out the big basement room to make it more usable for exercise and organized some of the toys and dressups down there. The kids have spent so much more time enjoying that area, and I love it! We got some shelves put up to clear out some floor space in the game room which made the upstairs bedrooms less cluttered. Every bedroom got deep cleaned (except mine). That will for sure happen before the baby comes! But it was so fun working with Dallin and playing with the kids. I LOVED not having to go anywhere. It was a true break and I felt more prepared for the New Year than I ever have.
We rang in the new year with our younger kids because the big boys were invited to dances and parties. We watched movies and ate snacks. We watched the ball drop at 10:00 and pulled party poppers and threw streamers and made lots of noise and danced around. It was perfect!
We have had a truly blessed year! We have so much to be grateful for, and I loved spending the final week with my favorite people in my favorite place.
Saturday, December 27, 2014
Christmas Vacation
We have preferred for many past years to have Christmas Eve and Day at our home with our immediate family. It has made the day more meaningful and special and a better reward for us as parents after all the preparation. Last year we slipped out of tradition so I could be with my family while Dallin and the boys were in Mexico, so we were hoping for a Christmas at home this year. As we learned about the plans of family members over the holidays, we realized we were going to have to let that go. And the kids were all begging to have Christmas at Grandma's anyway.
When it was looking like we'd be spending over a week there, we were feeling a bit nervous about the crowd. As more of my siblings move away from our hometown, there is less space at my parent's house for people to stay. We had an idea to try something new, and it was really great! I asked my sister who lives near my parents if we could stay with them. They have a big family in a small house, but I thought it would be fun since our kids match up in age so well, and it would give us some space from the big crowd at my parents'. We appreciated so much their hospitality. They gave us a bedroom where we could sleep with our youngest kids and the other kids slept on the floor with their cousins. The adults could stay up and visit and play games without feeling like we were letting the little ones stay up too late. I hope it took some of the pressure off of my mom for feeding a huge crowd 3 times a day, though we still ate at her house plenty! Staying at Amy's eased the pressure of the big family gathering just enough that we could really relax and enjoy one another.
We arrived the Friday before Christmas, late. In the morning we had a baptism to attend for my niece. It was fun for her that so many cousins were there. They live in Kansas now, so it was great to see them.
Then we had a few days to play and rest and do last-minute things for Christmas. Christmas morning, we decided to open stockings at Amy's and presents at my mom's. It was great! The kids were so excited to be with cousins and my nephew Tanner skyped in from his mission in Brazil, so there was still a pile of unopened presents that were somewhat forgotten. I felt so grateful that everybody got their Christmas wishes and there were fun surprises too. I was especially glad to fill Dallin's wish list as he is not one to buy things for himself, and I was excited to get things without him knowing. I bought him some shoes to play racquetball in, and I bought 2 sizes because I have had bad luck choosing the right size for him in shoes. I knew I'd be covered if I just bought both shoes and let him take back the one that didn't fit as well. I didn't realize that they were 2 different styles of shoes, and he ended up loving them both and not being able to choose! Oh well, they will get used and I won't have to buy more for a long time! I was able to find a couple of inexpensive things so the big boys would have something to open, and Grandma and Grandpa took pity on them (their gift was a ski trip at Thanksgiving), and gave them some fun money in a card. The lifelike dolls I got the little girls are so beautiful! We are having so much fun with them! Sarajoy especially treats hers like a real baby and takes care of it all day long. I love to see my girls practice nurturing. Ruby wanted Hawaiian sandals and moccasins. I ended up getting all of the younger kids moccasins because they've had so much fun with our Indian studies this year. Simon wanted a remote control airplane, and my mom just happened to have one she bought on clearance years ago. She also had a wooden car carrier for Sullivan, and I got him a playmobil guy with a motorcycle. He keeps all of his little gifts in his treasure box and gets it out every day. I really, really love giving gifts at Christmas!
The next day we did our Porter family party. We had dinner and talents and a gift exchange. In between talents, we do "minute to win-it" games, which is great! I was super excited for the grown-ups portion. We are on a rotation for which adult couple we give gifts to, and after the kids are done with their exchange, we send them off to play and watch the adults open gifts. My sister Melissa is the funnest person in the world to get gifts for. Since I only get her name every 8 years, I had quite a little collection of things for her. Some vintage paper cutout villages I got on Ebay that reminded me of one she had growing up, some "teeny-tiny littlest pet shops" because she loves miniatures, the children's book "A Time To Keep" by Tasha Tudor, which is old-fashioned celebration of holidays, some chocolates, and a necklace locket that is glass and you put little tiny charms in it. It was fun to pick charms that reminded me of things she loves. She is as fun to shop for as a kid! Russ got a meat tray from Costco cause he's a sausage kind of guy, and some essential oil for his sauna. I got him some fireworks and a little game since he's always saying how boring practical gifts are!
My brother Steven and his wife drove through a blizzard from Spokane to surprise everybody. We thought since they'd just moved there they wouldn't have enough time off to make the trip worth it. We are so glad they did! It was a really fun surprise. They had our name and got us a nice speaker for our ipod that we can use in the house or in the car. (Our van has the worst possible sound system)
It was a wonderful holiday vacation, and the week flew by quickly. The kids were in heaven getting to be with cousins around the clock, and there was very little grouchiness at that. We are grateful to be a part of such a wonderful and loving family. For sure a very essential part of celebrating Christmas!
When it was looking like we'd be spending over a week there, we were feeling a bit nervous about the crowd. As more of my siblings move away from our hometown, there is less space at my parent's house for people to stay. We had an idea to try something new, and it was really great! I asked my sister who lives near my parents if we could stay with them. They have a big family in a small house, but I thought it would be fun since our kids match up in age so well, and it would give us some space from the big crowd at my parents'. We appreciated so much their hospitality. They gave us a bedroom where we could sleep with our youngest kids and the other kids slept on the floor with their cousins. The adults could stay up and visit and play games without feeling like we were letting the little ones stay up too late. I hope it took some of the pressure off of my mom for feeding a huge crowd 3 times a day, though we still ate at her house plenty! Staying at Amy's eased the pressure of the big family gathering just enough that we could really relax and enjoy one another.
We arrived the Friday before Christmas, late. In the morning we had a baptism to attend for my niece. It was fun for her that so many cousins were there. They live in Kansas now, so it was great to see them.
Then we had a few days to play and rest and do last-minute things for Christmas. Christmas morning, we decided to open stockings at Amy's and presents at my mom's. It was great! The kids were so excited to be with cousins and my nephew Tanner skyped in from his mission in Brazil, so there was still a pile of unopened presents that were somewhat forgotten. I felt so grateful that everybody got their Christmas wishes and there were fun surprises too. I was especially glad to fill Dallin's wish list as he is not one to buy things for himself, and I was excited to get things without him knowing. I bought him some shoes to play racquetball in, and I bought 2 sizes because I have had bad luck choosing the right size for him in shoes. I knew I'd be covered if I just bought both shoes and let him take back the one that didn't fit as well. I didn't realize that they were 2 different styles of shoes, and he ended up loving them both and not being able to choose! Oh well, they will get used and I won't have to buy more for a long time! I was able to find a couple of inexpensive things so the big boys would have something to open, and Grandma and Grandpa took pity on them (their gift was a ski trip at Thanksgiving), and gave them some fun money in a card. The lifelike dolls I got the little girls are so beautiful! We are having so much fun with them! Sarajoy especially treats hers like a real baby and takes care of it all day long. I love to see my girls practice nurturing. Ruby wanted Hawaiian sandals and moccasins. I ended up getting all of the younger kids moccasins because they've had so much fun with our Indian studies this year. Simon wanted a remote control airplane, and my mom just happened to have one she bought on clearance years ago. She also had a wooden car carrier for Sullivan, and I got him a playmobil guy with a motorcycle. He keeps all of his little gifts in his treasure box and gets it out every day. I really, really love giving gifts at Christmas!
The next day we did our Porter family party. We had dinner and talents and a gift exchange. In between talents, we do "minute to win-it" games, which is great! I was super excited for the grown-ups portion. We are on a rotation for which adult couple we give gifts to, and after the kids are done with their exchange, we send them off to play and watch the adults open gifts. My sister Melissa is the funnest person in the world to get gifts for. Since I only get her name every 8 years, I had quite a little collection of things for her. Some vintage paper cutout villages I got on Ebay that reminded me of one she had growing up, some "teeny-tiny littlest pet shops" because she loves miniatures, the children's book "A Time To Keep" by Tasha Tudor, which is old-fashioned celebration of holidays, some chocolates, and a necklace locket that is glass and you put little tiny charms in it. It was fun to pick charms that reminded me of things she loves. She is as fun to shop for as a kid! Russ got a meat tray from Costco cause he's a sausage kind of guy, and some essential oil for his sauna. I got him some fireworks and a little game since he's always saying how boring practical gifts are!
My brother Steven and his wife drove through a blizzard from Spokane to surprise everybody. We thought since they'd just moved there they wouldn't have enough time off to make the trip worth it. We are so glad they did! It was a really fun surprise. They had our name and got us a nice speaker for our ipod that we can use in the house or in the car. (Our van has the worst possible sound system)
It was a wonderful holiday vacation, and the week flew by quickly. The kids were in heaven getting to be with cousins around the clock, and there was very little grouchiness at that. We are grateful to be a part of such a wonderful and loving family. For sure a very essential part of celebrating Christmas!
Friday, December 26, 2014
Holiday Season
I'm glad I felt so ready for Christmas early this year. The season flew by so quickly! I was ready in November so I actually put up my Christmas decorations a week before Thanksgiving. The kids were so excited. I just love the spirit it creates in the home. With a late Thanksgiving, we needed that extra week!
We also spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house, which we have never done. I kind of like it that we don't have a certain tradition at Thanksgiving. It is always fun to see how it works out. The past 2 times it was my family's year, we've hosted Thanksgiving. I was completely willing to do so again, but was relieved when my mom volunteered. We realized she has never really hosted it because they've always traveled, even when we were growing up.
Our stay was very refreshing. It was happy and peaceful for the kids and us to have some quiet time with Grandma and Grandpa in the mornings before the cousins arrived, and then it was lots of fun to get to visit and play.
Our big family dinner was delicious and relaxing and so enjoyable! Dallin and I both wished it could have lasted longer, that period of enjoying the food and the conversation at the table.
I got to do a lot of my Christmas shopping online while I was there, so I had very little of that to worry about when I got home. Plus it is so fun to get the packages and get to open them myself before I wrap them up for the kids! My sister Kim helped me find some great deals on stuff for the boys cause she knew which stores were having sales and she shared some coupons with me as well. I haven't been "shopping" with her for a long time, so that was super fun. The 3 big kids went with aunt Amy to some evening sales on Thanksgiving and were so thrilled to get some new shirts for like $2 because of the great deals!
Nathan and Brandon got invited on a ski trip with cousins. Even with lots of discounts, it was pretty expensive, but they agreed it would be their Christmas. They still got new jammies and a few stocking stuffers, but they were fine with having that fun experience be their presents. And they had a really great time.
And when we got home, December was upon us. I told the kids to only do what homework was absolutely necessary so we could have time for Christmas projects. I wish there was a way to slow down the season, but it went especially fast because I had to rest so much. It was a fun and happy December, though. I love the music and the lights and the projects and the parties and the anticipation.
One highlight was riding the train into Salt Lake to hear Nathan's choir perform. It was fun to make the train just in time and have the little ones experience the excitement of public transit! Sarajoy got a really bad sick headache, though, and spent the rest of the time in the stroller. Simon and Sullivan were completely naughty in the Assembly Hall where the concert was, so I missed all but a bit of the dress rehearsal. But Sullivan was amazed when we came out of the Assembly hall because they had turned on the lights and it was so beautiful! We didn't get to enjoy a lot of the temple square stuff because it was just so packed with people! We walked over by the Nativity, but couldn't get close and we saw the Christus from afar, but the line was too long. The food court where we were trying to get hamburgers was completely packed with people. It was a 20 minute wait to order food and a 20 minute wait to get your food after you ordered. But we found a fun place at City Creek where the kids could climb on rocks and eat their hamburgers. The whole experience did not turn out at all like I had hoped, but it was an adventure. And I know the kids will never forget it.
Another highlight was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert the following Saturday. We were picked from the lottery to have 4 tickets. The boys graciously let the girls have the 2 extras since the special guest this year was the Sesame Street Muppets. But Sarajoy really, really wanted to go! I was hesitant after our fiasco the previous week, but they lowered the age for the concert this year as it was geared especially for her age group. We decided to take her and hope for an extra ticket in standby or something. We learned our lesson last week and ate before we left, bringing lots of snacks to eat on the way home. We hit some bad traffic that got us into town later than we had hoped, but we were still 2.5 hours before the concert was to start. But the standby line was already ridiculously long. Bummer. Dallin got in line and I headed over to the conference center, hoping to beg a spare ticket off of somebody there. We knew there was a good chance Dallin would end up watching from the tabernacle, and that was really sad! I sheepishly began asking people if they had a spare ticket, to no avail. I think the girls were a bit embarrassed at my boldness. When one couple showed up with only one kid, they said they had just given their extra ticket to someone up at the street. So we went up to the street corner and asked everyone as they came across if they had a spare ticket. A party of 3 came by (they only issued tickets in groups of 4) so I hopefully asked them. They said no and hurried on, but a few steps later the wife said, "Wait, didn't they send us 4?" They double checked and came back with their extra ticket! I called Dallin and we all went in and got our seats. We had really good seats and 2 hours to kill. We rested, talked, played games on my phone, toys in my purse, took bathroom breaks, etc. Finally the lights were dimmed and the concert started. It was really fun and so full of the Christmas Spirit! Sarajoy for sure got tired, but she was a really good sport. The only mishap was that Dallin sneaked some oranges in and was passing wedges to the kids. Sarajoy knew she had to be sneaky for her little snack, so she would duck down by our feet and quickly eat a few bites. A little too quickly on an orange wedge, though, and she choked. I didn't realize she'd been given one and I thought she was throwing up! I thought that nothing could be worse than having a child throw up around all of these people in such a setting! Thankfully, she coughed it up without too much notice and I wrapped it in a diaper and we were fine for the rest of the evening! It is always one of my favorite parts of the season to be at those concerts.
...
We also spent Thanksgiving at my mom's house, which we have never done. I kind of like it that we don't have a certain tradition at Thanksgiving. It is always fun to see how it works out. The past 2 times it was my family's year, we've hosted Thanksgiving. I was completely willing to do so again, but was relieved when my mom volunteered. We realized she has never really hosted it because they've always traveled, even when we were growing up.
Our stay was very refreshing. It was happy and peaceful for the kids and us to have some quiet time with Grandma and Grandpa in the mornings before the cousins arrived, and then it was lots of fun to get to visit and play.
Our big family dinner was delicious and relaxing and so enjoyable! Dallin and I both wished it could have lasted longer, that period of enjoying the food and the conversation at the table.
I got to do a lot of my Christmas shopping online while I was there, so I had very little of that to worry about when I got home. Plus it is so fun to get the packages and get to open them myself before I wrap them up for the kids! My sister Kim helped me find some great deals on stuff for the boys cause she knew which stores were having sales and she shared some coupons with me as well. I haven't been "shopping" with her for a long time, so that was super fun. The 3 big kids went with aunt Amy to some evening sales on Thanksgiving and were so thrilled to get some new shirts for like $2 because of the great deals!
Nathan and Brandon got invited on a ski trip with cousins. Even with lots of discounts, it was pretty expensive, but they agreed it would be their Christmas. They still got new jammies and a few stocking stuffers, but they were fine with having that fun experience be their presents. And they had a really great time.
And when we got home, December was upon us. I told the kids to only do what homework was absolutely necessary so we could have time for Christmas projects. I wish there was a way to slow down the season, but it went especially fast because I had to rest so much. It was a fun and happy December, though. I love the music and the lights and the projects and the parties and the anticipation.
One highlight was riding the train into Salt Lake to hear Nathan's choir perform. It was fun to make the train just in time and have the little ones experience the excitement of public transit! Sarajoy got a really bad sick headache, though, and spent the rest of the time in the stroller. Simon and Sullivan were completely naughty in the Assembly Hall where the concert was, so I missed all but a bit of the dress rehearsal. But Sullivan was amazed when we came out of the Assembly hall because they had turned on the lights and it was so beautiful! We didn't get to enjoy a lot of the temple square stuff because it was just so packed with people! We walked over by the Nativity, but couldn't get close and we saw the Christus from afar, but the line was too long. The food court where we were trying to get hamburgers was completely packed with people. It was a 20 minute wait to order food and a 20 minute wait to get your food after you ordered. But we found a fun place at City Creek where the kids could climb on rocks and eat their hamburgers. The whole experience did not turn out at all like I had hoped, but it was an adventure. And I know the kids will never forget it.
Another highlight was the Mormon Tabernacle Choir concert the following Saturday. We were picked from the lottery to have 4 tickets. The boys graciously let the girls have the 2 extras since the special guest this year was the Sesame Street Muppets. But Sarajoy really, really wanted to go! I was hesitant after our fiasco the previous week, but they lowered the age for the concert this year as it was geared especially for her age group. We decided to take her and hope for an extra ticket in standby or something. We learned our lesson last week and ate before we left, bringing lots of snacks to eat on the way home. We hit some bad traffic that got us into town later than we had hoped, but we were still 2.5 hours before the concert was to start. But the standby line was already ridiculously long. Bummer. Dallin got in line and I headed over to the conference center, hoping to beg a spare ticket off of somebody there. We knew there was a good chance Dallin would end up watching from the tabernacle, and that was really sad! I sheepishly began asking people if they had a spare ticket, to no avail. I think the girls were a bit embarrassed at my boldness. When one couple showed up with only one kid, they said they had just given their extra ticket to someone up at the street. So we went up to the street corner and asked everyone as they came across if they had a spare ticket. A party of 3 came by (they only issued tickets in groups of 4) so I hopefully asked them. They said no and hurried on, but a few steps later the wife said, "Wait, didn't they send us 4?" They double checked and came back with their extra ticket! I called Dallin and we all went in and got our seats. We had really good seats and 2 hours to kill. We rested, talked, played games on my phone, toys in my purse, took bathroom breaks, etc. Finally the lights were dimmed and the concert started. It was really fun and so full of the Christmas Spirit! Sarajoy for sure got tired, but she was a really good sport. The only mishap was that Dallin sneaked some oranges in and was passing wedges to the kids. Sarajoy knew she had to be sneaky for her little snack, so she would duck down by our feet and quickly eat a few bites. A little too quickly on an orange wedge, though, and she choked. I didn't realize she'd been given one and I thought she was throwing up! I thought that nothing could be worse than having a child throw up around all of these people in such a setting! Thankfully, she coughed it up without too much notice and I wrapped it in a diaper and we were fine for the rest of the evening! It is always one of my favorite parts of the season to be at those concerts.
...
Wednesday, December 17, 2014
Giving Day
My favorite celebration at Christmas time is always our immediate family party known as Giving Day. It is always a big deal to help each child make each family member a gift, but it is "real Christmas" as far as Dallin and I are concerned.
I knew we would not be home this year for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner, so I wanted to have a special dinner as a part of the evening festivities. The only problem is, it was Wednesday, and I knew we would be gone for most of the day until dinnertime.
Thankfully, the previous Saturday, Dallin had planned a short-notice family party with his side of the family that all of the Utah people were actually able to make it to. It was a wonderful evening with delicious snacks and treats, talents and visiting. And his parents gave us an electric multi-cooker/pressure cooker thingy.
And I found a frozen pork roast in the freezer. And we had carrots and potatoes and onions. It has been awhile since we had a hearty meat and taters kind of dinner. I whipped up some Jello, which we also rarely have, threw the ingredients in the cooker, and hoped for the best. We came home to a delicious smelling house and prepared a lovely candle-lit feast. It was cozy and relaxing and delicious! We took our time enjoying the food and the atmosphere, though a couple of kids disappeared to finish last-minute gifts.
Then the excitement grew as people awaited their chance to give. We got out the Santa hat and drew names and shared what we love about each person.
Daisy stitched loving words into a handkerchief for Dad and decorated a T-shirt for Nathan. She gave me her no-bake cookies that she got at a white elephant party because she knows I love them. She printed some colorful pictures of wild animals for Brandon to use for his drawings. She learned to crochet and made Ruby a cute headband with a flower. She sewed a sleeping bag for Simon's little bear and sewed a candy cane applique on a white shirt for Sarajoy to match her Christmas skirt. And for Sullivan she made a little Santa hat just his size.
Brandon had a lot of fun with his gifts, and is getting pretty self-reliant. He made Sullivan an easy-on belt with a loop for a sword. I remembered a couple of hand me down swords I'd stashed away from my sister and got them out for him to give to the little boys along with his gifts for them. That belt and sword was such a hit for little Sulley! Brandon made Simon a drawstring bag to keep his violin rosin and cloth in. He made Sarajoy and Daisy doll blankets with matching diapers. He designed a nail polish holder for Ruby from a hanger that fits all of the different sizes of polish. He made two bowties (the kind you have to tie!) for Nathan. He made a pillow for me and an ipad bag with a pocket for the speaker for Dallin.
Ruby helped me get the portraits taken and printed and cut for the annual photo ornaments. She decided who got which ornament (I found a great deal on them this year so we just had to add photos) and got them all ready and wrapped.
Simon had a great idea to make a little fluff ball with a face on it for Sullivan. He kept getting creative and it ended up with a Santa hat. We also made Sullivan a cape, which he immediately put on and has worn it with his sword belt at least once a day since then. For everyone else in the family, he chose unique fabric and made a pair of miniature corn bags to use as hand warmers.
Sarajoy made doll stockings for the play house for Ruby, Daisy, and Simon. Daddy and Sullivan got soft fleece pillowcases with a heart she hand stitched on. Nathan and Brandon got little pillows scented with essential oils to freshen their bedroom. For me she drew some sweet pictures of birds.
Nathan baked his famous snowball cookies for the family treat, and Sullivan made everyone a bag of homemade Chex party mix. The two of us had a fun time mixing ingredients and shooing everyone else out of the kitchen while we worked on our "secret project".
Dallin made a personalized book mark for each person with pictures of animals and scripture quotes that remind him of each child and tie in to the animal. I got elephants, my favorite. "power, love, and a sound mind". Nathan got Oxen: "Take my yoke upon you", Brandon Eagle: "Those who wait upon the Lord will mount up as with eagles' wings", Ruby Hummingbird: "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass", Daisy Horses: "chariots of fire..those that be with us are more than those that be with them" , Simon Fish: "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men:, Sarajoy Wild Cats: "The lion shall lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them.", and Sullivan Snakes: "If a serpent had bitten any man and he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." and "Look and live and be healed".
I made Nathan and Brandon crocheted snow hats. I made Ruby a nail polish organizer. I made Daisy and Sarajoy diaper bags for their doll things. I embroidered Simon's name and a violin on a flannel cloth for him to use to clean his violin. For Sullivan, I crocheted 10 little monsters that fit into a little bed so he can play "10 in the bed".
We spent some time enjoying one another and our gifts before tucking happily into bed for sweet dreams of giving.
I knew we would not be home this year for our traditional Christmas Eve Dinner, so I wanted to have a special dinner as a part of the evening festivities. The only problem is, it was Wednesday, and I knew we would be gone for most of the day until dinnertime.
Thankfully, the previous Saturday, Dallin had planned a short-notice family party with his side of the family that all of the Utah people were actually able to make it to. It was a wonderful evening with delicious snacks and treats, talents and visiting. And his parents gave us an electric multi-cooker/pressure cooker thingy.
And I found a frozen pork roast in the freezer. And we had carrots and potatoes and onions. It has been awhile since we had a hearty meat and taters kind of dinner. I whipped up some Jello, which we also rarely have, threw the ingredients in the cooker, and hoped for the best. We came home to a delicious smelling house and prepared a lovely candle-lit feast. It was cozy and relaxing and delicious! We took our time enjoying the food and the atmosphere, though a couple of kids disappeared to finish last-minute gifts.
Then the excitement grew as people awaited their chance to give. We got out the Santa hat and drew names and shared what we love about each person.
Daisy stitched loving words into a handkerchief for Dad and decorated a T-shirt for Nathan. She gave me her no-bake cookies that she got at a white elephant party because she knows I love them. She printed some colorful pictures of wild animals for Brandon to use for his drawings. She learned to crochet and made Ruby a cute headband with a flower. She sewed a sleeping bag for Simon's little bear and sewed a candy cane applique on a white shirt for Sarajoy to match her Christmas skirt. And for Sullivan she made a little Santa hat just his size.
Brandon had a lot of fun with his gifts, and is getting pretty self-reliant. He made Sullivan an easy-on belt with a loop for a sword. I remembered a couple of hand me down swords I'd stashed away from my sister and got them out for him to give to the little boys along with his gifts for them. That belt and sword was such a hit for little Sulley! Brandon made Simon a drawstring bag to keep his violin rosin and cloth in. He made Sarajoy and Daisy doll blankets with matching diapers. He designed a nail polish holder for Ruby from a hanger that fits all of the different sizes of polish. He made two bowties (the kind you have to tie!) for Nathan. He made a pillow for me and an ipad bag with a pocket for the speaker for Dallin.
Ruby helped me get the portraits taken and printed and cut for the annual photo ornaments. She decided who got which ornament (I found a great deal on them this year so we just had to add photos) and got them all ready and wrapped.
Simon had a great idea to make a little fluff ball with a face on it for Sullivan. He kept getting creative and it ended up with a Santa hat. We also made Sullivan a cape, which he immediately put on and has worn it with his sword belt at least once a day since then. For everyone else in the family, he chose unique fabric and made a pair of miniature corn bags to use as hand warmers.
Sarajoy made doll stockings for the play house for Ruby, Daisy, and Simon. Daddy and Sullivan got soft fleece pillowcases with a heart she hand stitched on. Nathan and Brandon got little pillows scented with essential oils to freshen their bedroom. For me she drew some sweet pictures of birds.
Nathan baked his famous snowball cookies for the family treat, and Sullivan made everyone a bag of homemade Chex party mix. The two of us had a fun time mixing ingredients and shooing everyone else out of the kitchen while we worked on our "secret project".
Dallin made a personalized book mark for each person with pictures of animals and scripture quotes that remind him of each child and tie in to the animal. I got elephants, my favorite. "power, love, and a sound mind". Nathan got Oxen: "Take my yoke upon you", Brandon Eagle: "Those who wait upon the Lord will mount up as with eagles' wings", Ruby Hummingbird: "By small and simple things are great things brought to pass", Daisy Horses: "chariots of fire..those that be with us are more than those that be with them" , Simon Fish: "Come follow me and I will make you fishers of men:, Sarajoy Wild Cats: "The lion shall lie down with the lamb and a little child shall lead them.", and Sullivan Snakes: "If a serpent had bitten any man and he beheld the serpent of brass, he lived." and "Look and live and be healed".
I made Nathan and Brandon crocheted snow hats. I made Ruby a nail polish organizer. I made Daisy and Sarajoy diaper bags for their doll things. I embroidered Simon's name and a violin on a flannel cloth for him to use to clean his violin. For Sullivan, I crocheted 10 little monsters that fit into a little bed so he can play "10 in the bed".
We spent some time enjoying one another and our gifts before tucking happily into bed for sweet dreams of giving.
Monday, November 10, 2014
Reflections On The First Trimester
Turmoil. That is how it started. Within a day of conception, my body completely changed. I had no idea that I was pregnant, but I was sure that nobody ever had symptoms that early. I was sure that I would NEVER be able to handle a pregnancy again because I was a wreck! I went from feeling energetic, finally having a regular exercise schedule, feeling like I could have a really successful school year, etc. to completely tanking. I was exhausted, couldn't recover from swimming when I exercised, I would feel cold and wiped out all day long! I was starting to feel like a sinus infection was on the horizon, and I was suddenly incredibly irritable and anti-social.
It is kind of funny now that I didn't realize it, but I have truly never had pregnancy symptoms so early! I thought I was going crazy. I hightailed it over to the chiropractor for an adjustment and some other treatments. "You're in turmoil," he said. "Exactly," I thought. I have had enough of feeling crappy this year!
Peace. The positive pregnancy test brought peace. Duh. I'm not going crazy!
But really, having it be the 8th time I just feel more chill about it. I'm doing what I have to to survive, but I'm not stressing. I've had plenty of nausea, but no throwing up. The nausea has been mostly managed by resting on the couch all morning, sleeping on and off while I direct homeschool traffic, chores, and Simon's violin practice. Grumpy? Yes. But knowing why makes it easier to bear and catch myself before I say anything too offensive. Or say sorry quickly afterwards :) We've still had a really great school year and the house isn't completely falling apart. The kids are great at keeping up with their chores and fixing meals hasn't made me too queasy. So when people have asked me how I'm feeling, I say, "pretty crummy, but its okay." Because it is. I'm really thankful to be dealing with it pretty well.
I think the hardest thing is that I feel so anti-social. I don't think I've ever felt that way before. It is just hard for me to be around people, and I can't stand having commitments outside my home. I've really had to grin and bear it for all of the homeschool activities we are involved in this year. I don't want to deal with anyone's expectations of me and I don't want to be a burden to anyone with my lower level of functioning. And I get my feelings hurt easily and that is so annoying!
I also haven't felt like writing at all. I haven't felt like reflecting, recording, anything. I think it is because if I have any spare moments I just want to SLEEP. And so I do. The food is better and the naps are better when you are pregnant, for sure.
So really, it has been okay. It has been a peaceful, happy first trimester.
It is kind of funny now that I didn't realize it, but I have truly never had pregnancy symptoms so early! I thought I was going crazy. I hightailed it over to the chiropractor for an adjustment and some other treatments. "You're in turmoil," he said. "Exactly," I thought. I have had enough of feeling crappy this year!
Peace. The positive pregnancy test brought peace. Duh. I'm not going crazy!
But really, having it be the 8th time I just feel more chill about it. I'm doing what I have to to survive, but I'm not stressing. I've had plenty of nausea, but no throwing up. The nausea has been mostly managed by resting on the couch all morning, sleeping on and off while I direct homeschool traffic, chores, and Simon's violin practice. Grumpy? Yes. But knowing why makes it easier to bear and catch myself before I say anything too offensive. Or say sorry quickly afterwards :) We've still had a really great school year and the house isn't completely falling apart. The kids are great at keeping up with their chores and fixing meals hasn't made me too queasy. So when people have asked me how I'm feeling, I say, "pretty crummy, but its okay." Because it is. I'm really thankful to be dealing with it pretty well.
I think the hardest thing is that I feel so anti-social. I don't think I've ever felt that way before. It is just hard for me to be around people, and I can't stand having commitments outside my home. I've really had to grin and bear it for all of the homeschool activities we are involved in this year. I don't want to deal with anyone's expectations of me and I don't want to be a burden to anyone with my lower level of functioning. And I get my feelings hurt easily and that is so annoying!
I also haven't felt like writing at all. I haven't felt like reflecting, recording, anything. I think it is because if I have any spare moments I just want to SLEEP. And so I do. The food is better and the naps are better when you are pregnant, for sure.
So really, it has been okay. It has been a peaceful, happy first trimester.
Monday, October 27, 2014
Telling the Kids
Since the big kids were with me when I got my fortune, I told them why I was so excited about it. So they knew the next day about my pregnancy. I have never told them so early, but it felt right. I have been a little concerned about my oldest son's and daughter's responses to any mention of having more babies. They are both really responsible, reliable kids, and I can see how they take a lot of the burden upon themselves. I was hoping they would be able to find some room for excitement, though.
A couple of weeks before my test, Ruby had come up to me during co-op and told me about a dream. She said she dreamed I had a red-headed baby girl and she was so excited. She said when she woke up from the dream she was really sad because it had seemed so real. That warmed my heart and reassured me that she would be ready for the news if and when it came.
I was surprised that none of the kids asked me in the morning about my results, but it was a busy day full of classes, etc. I brought it up to Nathan when he got home. "Aren't you wondering about the test I took this morning?" I asked slyly. "Oh yeah, I forgot," he said. "Looks like you might have a birthday buddy," I said. He continued down the stairs, smiling. A few minutes later he ran back up and said, "How close of a birthday buddy?" And I could tell he was excited. My due date is only 2 days shy of what his due date was.
Brandon and Daisy were thrilled. We waited a few weeks to tell the younger kids. When I told Sarajoy, she said, "Good, now we can have another girl." Simon said, "What are we going to name her?" I told Sullivan there was a baby growing in my tummy and it was going to grow up and come out so he could hold it. He said, "Yeah, and it is going to be a girl."
Needless to say, we are all getting a little too attached to the idea of having a girl...
And at a Relief Society party when I told someone I was craving pomegranates, they said, "You must be having a redhead..."
(Sometimes superstition is a little bit fun)
But we are all very excited to find out for sure and we will be so thankful either way.
A couple of weeks before my test, Ruby had come up to me during co-op and told me about a dream. She said she dreamed I had a red-headed baby girl and she was so excited. She said when she woke up from the dream she was really sad because it had seemed so real. That warmed my heart and reassured me that she would be ready for the news if and when it came.
I was surprised that none of the kids asked me in the morning about my results, but it was a busy day full of classes, etc. I brought it up to Nathan when he got home. "Aren't you wondering about the test I took this morning?" I asked slyly. "Oh yeah, I forgot," he said. "Looks like you might have a birthday buddy," I said. He continued down the stairs, smiling. A few minutes later he ran back up and said, "How close of a birthday buddy?" And I could tell he was excited. My due date is only 2 days shy of what his due date was.
Brandon and Daisy were thrilled. We waited a few weeks to tell the younger kids. When I told Sarajoy, she said, "Good, now we can have another girl." Simon said, "What are we going to name her?" I told Sullivan there was a baby growing in my tummy and it was going to grow up and come out so he could hold it. He said, "Yeah, and it is going to be a girl."
Needless to say, we are all getting a little too attached to the idea of having a girl...
And at a Relief Society party when I told someone I was craving pomegranates, they said, "You must be having a redhead..."
(Sometimes superstition is a little bit fun)
But we are all very excited to find out for sure and we will be so thankful either way.
Friday, October 10, 2014
The Heart of a Brother
I decided to grow a backbone and hold our 16-year old to his curfew agreement last week. It is never easy for me to administer consequences, but I really felt I needed to help him learn the commitment and punctuality that keeping curfew requires. So he lost the privilege of going out this week. Not a big deal, really, because he is so busy, but he loves going to the high school football games and there was one tonight. He could have made a big deal about missing it, but he made a better choice instead.
His choir was singing the national anthem, so he had to be there at the beginning of the game. When he learned that his sisters had been invited for the evening to go to a friend's house, he cheerfully offered to drive them since it would be on the way. The next thing I know, he's loading Sullivan in the car, too. I wondered how that would work having a 2 year old with him while he tried to sing. That little guy came back feeling so special, with so much to say! He got to see flags and fireworks and hang out with "Mrs. Christensen", a friend's mom, while Nathan sang. I think those two guys genuinely had a great time together, even though they didn't get to stay for the whole game.
So big brother came home and cleaned out the van so he can use it for his big homecoming date tomorrow night. As soon as he was done, he was down on the couch with his little friend. Diego is always more fun when you have a big brother to watch it with.
It is such a joy to see my kids care for each other. It makes the hard parts of big family life completely and totally worth it!
His choir was singing the national anthem, so he had to be there at the beginning of the game. When he learned that his sisters had been invited for the evening to go to a friend's house, he cheerfully offered to drive them since it would be on the way. The next thing I know, he's loading Sullivan in the car, too. I wondered how that would work having a 2 year old with him while he tried to sing. That little guy came back feeling so special, with so much to say! He got to see flags and fireworks and hang out with "Mrs. Christensen", a friend's mom, while Nathan sang. I think those two guys genuinely had a great time together, even though they didn't get to stay for the whole game.
So big brother came home and cleaned out the van so he can use it for his big homecoming date tomorrow night. As soon as he was done, he was down on the couch with his little friend. Diego is always more fun when you have a big brother to watch it with.
It is such a joy to see my kids care for each other. It makes the hard parts of big family life completely and totally worth it!
Wednesday, October 1, 2014
Fortunately
In 2010, when my heart was opened to the idea of having more children, I had no idea what it meant. I have previously shared the confusion I have felt over whether our family was complete or not. Since Sullivan came to our family, I have had lots of questions from others about whether or not we were "done." I am not offended by this curiosity like many people are. It doesn't bother me to share things like that with others, and I frankly feel a need to talk about it sometimes because it occupies my mind and heart so frequently! But I never had an answer. "I don't know," was all I could say. When Sulley was past 2 and weaned at 26 months and my body was showing no sign or regularity, I started to wonder if maybe I was done. I don't know if I will ever not feel baby hungry, but I have felt pretty peaceful about things going either way. People like to tell me I am still young, but my body is 7 pregnancies "old", and I am tired! Not tired enough to deny somebody a chance to come to our family, though.
It is sometimes fun and exciting, and sometimes really scary to put that decision in the hands of God and nature. I prayed about it daily for years. I think through the summer Dallin and I both felt a roller coaster of emotions about it. I got to a point where I was definitely in the baby hungry and ready phase, but nothing was happening. At a homeschool meeting, I borrowed a bouncy, giggly baby boy from some friends for a few minutes. He is their 11th! Dallin and I played with that little guy and drank in his smiles and giggles. I asked Dallin later if he was baby hungry. "How could you not be after playing with that little guy?" he said. Pretty heartwarming!
Weeks went by, and I was paying more attention to my body and wondering if things were beginning to wake up. I watched and waited and arrived at the day before I had decided to take a pregnancy test.
It was temple day with the big kids. I have taken fewer homeschool trips this year so I have some time alone with my 3 big kids. We usually get some dinner after we are finished, so I invited my niece who is at BYU to join us for dinner afterwards. We drove around Provo for a few minutes until we settled on Panda Express. I was kind of excited to read my fortune cookie after we ate because I was anticipating the pregnancy test the next morning. I had Brandon read it to me and giggled with delight:
A very welcome visitor! And the next morning I got the good news!
...
It is sometimes fun and exciting, and sometimes really scary to put that decision in the hands of God and nature. I prayed about it daily for years. I think through the summer Dallin and I both felt a roller coaster of emotions about it. I got to a point where I was definitely in the baby hungry and ready phase, but nothing was happening. At a homeschool meeting, I borrowed a bouncy, giggly baby boy from some friends for a few minutes. He is their 11th! Dallin and I played with that little guy and drank in his smiles and giggles. I asked Dallin later if he was baby hungry. "How could you not be after playing with that little guy?" he said. Pretty heartwarming!
Weeks went by, and I was paying more attention to my body and wondering if things were beginning to wake up. I watched and waited and arrived at the day before I had decided to take a pregnancy test.
It was temple day with the big kids. I have taken fewer homeschool trips this year so I have some time alone with my 3 big kids. We usually get some dinner after we are finished, so I invited my niece who is at BYU to join us for dinner afterwards. We drove around Provo for a few minutes until we settled on Panda Express. I was kind of excited to read my fortune cookie after we ate because I was anticipating the pregnancy test the next morning. I had Brandon read it to me and giggled with delight:
A very welcome visitor! And the next morning I got the good news!
...
Monday, September 29, 2014
Answered
This post has been begging to be written. I feel it an error to make it wait another day.
Sometimes when you have a large family and things are hard, you don't really realize it until you look back. Life just keeps you at its incredible pace. There is no time to think if things are hard, you just do. Not to say I was completely oblivious to the difficulties of this winter and spring, but I was busy and happy and just accepting what came. Looking back, however, it was hard! I was sick or the kids were sick and I was just hanging on for dear life, letting pretty much everything go except our outside commitments and a few household tasks that I was not doing very well. I was pretty good at getting dinner on the table and sort of kept laundry going.
As I began to feel a little better toward the end of the summer, I realized how badly I did NOT want to go back to having things that way. And as each productive, energetic day went by, I feared it a little more. I've been exercising again, getting up at 5am to swim in a neighbor's indoor pool. I've had more time to think and study and pray. And homeschool is going so well! How I LOVE spending time with my kids learning and recording what we learn.
It came on slowly, beginning with some extreme fatigue on the weekend. Then my swimming time didn't seem to be making me feel the way it had been. By Wednesday I felt like it was giving me asthma. And I had a kink in my back that was getting worse, causing increasing pain in my neck, head, and sinuses. I felt like I was starting to fall apart! I was so discouraged! I was filling every single minute of my days with good causes, doing everything I possibly could to be healthy. But it wasn't working. I was still slipping back into the survival mode. By Thursday evening, I was feeling pretty miserable, but knew I just needed to keep plugging along. After all, my days are scheduled almost down to the minute in order to keep everything maintained. As much as I knew I needed to rest, I just couldn't see a time where I could fit that in without placing a huge burden on my husband or kids or friends. Besides, my friends are all in the same boat! We're all trying to school and care for large families on limited amounts of time and dollars.
At this point, picking dinner became less romantic. I was desperate for rest, but each evening knew I had a big job ahead of me. We were going on weeks without buying groceries, so much of our comfort foods of butter, milk, eggs, and cheese were gone. We were trying to be good sports about oatmeal with water or powdered milk, but it was getting hard. I had prayed several times for the Lord to send us a little food if it was His will, but knew I was learning a lot of important things by using what we had stored and making the best of our harvest. I was being blessed to know what to make each day, and I even found a big bag of homemade butter that I had frozen so long ago. My kids won't eat it because it tastes cheesy, but I love it. I was SO thankful for it the day we decided to make some popcorn and I realized we were out of butter! So I was okay about the food, really. I knew it was a good experience for me, but I felt that all of the comforts of my life were slipping away.
Friday morning I was not well at all. I had big plans for what we were going to accomplish that day, and I couldn't stand to see them drift away. I prayed hard to know what to do. I felt so alone, like anyone I could ask for help was already dealing with their own burden. I knew there were things I could do to pamper and care for myself, but I couldn't see a way to actually do them. My time and energy was already more than spoken for! I cried out to the Lord, "Who will take care of me? I'm taking care of so many, and willingly, but what do I do with this?"
I knew I needed a chiropractic adjustment, so I texted the chiropractor, hoping he might have an opening today. He has been pretty busy lately, so I knew it was a long shot. Then I went back to bed. I just had to. I told the kids I was available because it was a time of day that I knew they would need me. I was wakened to help with discipline, to help with math, to encourage with chores, but I did rest. And the chiropractor had an opening at 11:30! The answers started there. I prayed hard before I went into his home that he would know what to say and I would know what to ask and that he would have answers for me. I left feeling so hopeful! My sinuses were already starting to drain and my back felt relieved from the adjustment. But more importantly, he said things to me that helped me see where my thoughts were off. He also said he noticed I was losing weight. I don't even know if I am because I don't care much for weighing myself, but it was what I needed to hear that my hard work of getting up early to exercise wasn't being wasted.
I felt like a new person when I got back in my car. My body was fragile and aching like it always is after an adjustment, but my spirits felt so much more hopeful. I had a thought to call a friend who lives in the same area. She makes colloidal silver to help with her sinus problems. I wanted to try it, so I gave her a call. She was home and happy to share some with me. No charge, because another friend had given her the bottles, and that's all she usually charges friends for. I'm not alone, there ARE people who will help me and care for me!
When I got home, the kids were happily and busily making lunches so we could go to park day. They got everything ready with hardly a word from me. Just before we left, Daisy slipped me a $20 bill that she has been saving for months so I could buy a few groceries. Sarajoy caught the giving bug and joyfully gave me her precious dollar from her purse! How could I accept it, but how could I not? This would allow the dinner date with Dallin I was desperately longing for! And milk! Park day was especially refreshing and nourishing. I left feeling renewed.
I was so excited to go home and tell Dallin we could go on a date! He was at the library picking some things up for me. I just couldn't wait, so I had Nathan drive me down and drop me off. It was incredibly fun to have some minutes to browse the shelves uninterrupted! I took note that it was actually a pretty fun date. We both found some fun, free treasures to bring home. I told him about Daisy's gift and how much I needed a dinner out. (We are seriously the worst at dates. We have dinner together about twice a year.) He started heading for Café Rio, even though I hadn't told him that was where I wanted to go. I knew we could share a meal there for pretty cheap and still have money left for a few things at the store. Then he whipped a Café Rio gift card out of his wallet that he had won at work! We could each get our own meal! It was delicious and comforting and lovely to have that meal with him. We picked up the few necessities we could with our $16.38 and still had a dollar left for a couple of ice cream cones at the deli. I felt full and healed.
We came home to a giant package of toilet paper in our kitchen. I didn't mention that we ran out of toilet paper the night before co-op and I had to beg my friend to bring some for the 38 or so kids that would be there. So toilet paper was a more than welcome sight. My kids excitedly showed me the other goodies a friend had left for me. They told me she was being very sneaky, but they saw who she was. Loads and loads of groceries that I know she would not buy for her own family because they are having such frugal times. So humbling. The next morning I got a text from another friend that she was bringing me some butter. We were not home until later that day so I gave her the garage code. We came home to even more treats, more abundance! I am still finding treasures since she is the one who put the things away. Last night I found bacon! We had BLT's for dinner, and they were delicious! I'm still getting teary when I think of my friends sacrificing their precious food budgets for me. Sunday night, when our tummies were full of BLT deliciousness, another friend stopped by who had cleared her meager pantry to bring abundance to me. Again, how could I accept it, but how could I not? The Lord had answered my prayers through these people and I knew he would bless them for it. The variety of treats she brought complimented the other gifts in such a lovely way. How did she know we needed chips to go with our homemade salsa? And yummy Nesquick for a delicious milky treat. We are feeling downright spoiled!
As wonderful a relief as the food is, it isn't about the food. It is about the Lord answering my prayer to let me know I will be cared for. One way or another, He will care for me. How humbled and grateful I am to know I have friends I can count on to be there for me and care for me. These are the kinds of miracles that only happen when things get hard. I testify that prayers are answered.
...
Sometimes when you have a large family and things are hard, you don't really realize it until you look back. Life just keeps you at its incredible pace. There is no time to think if things are hard, you just do. Not to say I was completely oblivious to the difficulties of this winter and spring, but I was busy and happy and just accepting what came. Looking back, however, it was hard! I was sick or the kids were sick and I was just hanging on for dear life, letting pretty much everything go except our outside commitments and a few household tasks that I was not doing very well. I was pretty good at getting dinner on the table and sort of kept laundry going.
As I began to feel a little better toward the end of the summer, I realized how badly I did NOT want to go back to having things that way. And as each productive, energetic day went by, I feared it a little more. I've been exercising again, getting up at 5am to swim in a neighbor's indoor pool. I've had more time to think and study and pray. And homeschool is going so well! How I LOVE spending time with my kids learning and recording what we learn.
It came on slowly, beginning with some extreme fatigue on the weekend. Then my swimming time didn't seem to be making me feel the way it had been. By Wednesday I felt like it was giving me asthma. And I had a kink in my back that was getting worse, causing increasing pain in my neck, head, and sinuses. I felt like I was starting to fall apart! I was so discouraged! I was filling every single minute of my days with good causes, doing everything I possibly could to be healthy. But it wasn't working. I was still slipping back into the survival mode. By Thursday evening, I was feeling pretty miserable, but knew I just needed to keep plugging along. After all, my days are scheduled almost down to the minute in order to keep everything maintained. As much as I knew I needed to rest, I just couldn't see a time where I could fit that in without placing a huge burden on my husband or kids or friends. Besides, my friends are all in the same boat! We're all trying to school and care for large families on limited amounts of time and dollars.
At this point, picking dinner became less romantic. I was desperate for rest, but each evening knew I had a big job ahead of me. We were going on weeks without buying groceries, so much of our comfort foods of butter, milk, eggs, and cheese were gone. We were trying to be good sports about oatmeal with water or powdered milk, but it was getting hard. I had prayed several times for the Lord to send us a little food if it was His will, but knew I was learning a lot of important things by using what we had stored and making the best of our harvest. I was being blessed to know what to make each day, and I even found a big bag of homemade butter that I had frozen so long ago. My kids won't eat it because it tastes cheesy, but I love it. I was SO thankful for it the day we decided to make some popcorn and I realized we were out of butter! So I was okay about the food, really. I knew it was a good experience for me, but I felt that all of the comforts of my life were slipping away.
Friday morning I was not well at all. I had big plans for what we were going to accomplish that day, and I couldn't stand to see them drift away. I prayed hard to know what to do. I felt so alone, like anyone I could ask for help was already dealing with their own burden. I knew there were things I could do to pamper and care for myself, but I couldn't see a way to actually do them. My time and energy was already more than spoken for! I cried out to the Lord, "Who will take care of me? I'm taking care of so many, and willingly, but what do I do with this?"
I knew I needed a chiropractic adjustment, so I texted the chiropractor, hoping he might have an opening today. He has been pretty busy lately, so I knew it was a long shot. Then I went back to bed. I just had to. I told the kids I was available because it was a time of day that I knew they would need me. I was wakened to help with discipline, to help with math, to encourage with chores, but I did rest. And the chiropractor had an opening at 11:30! The answers started there. I prayed hard before I went into his home that he would know what to say and I would know what to ask and that he would have answers for me. I left feeling so hopeful! My sinuses were already starting to drain and my back felt relieved from the adjustment. But more importantly, he said things to me that helped me see where my thoughts were off. He also said he noticed I was losing weight. I don't even know if I am because I don't care much for weighing myself, but it was what I needed to hear that my hard work of getting up early to exercise wasn't being wasted.
I felt like a new person when I got back in my car. My body was fragile and aching like it always is after an adjustment, but my spirits felt so much more hopeful. I had a thought to call a friend who lives in the same area. She makes colloidal silver to help with her sinus problems. I wanted to try it, so I gave her a call. She was home and happy to share some with me. No charge, because another friend had given her the bottles, and that's all she usually charges friends for. I'm not alone, there ARE people who will help me and care for me!
When I got home, the kids were happily and busily making lunches so we could go to park day. They got everything ready with hardly a word from me. Just before we left, Daisy slipped me a $20 bill that she has been saving for months so I could buy a few groceries. Sarajoy caught the giving bug and joyfully gave me her precious dollar from her purse! How could I accept it, but how could I not? This would allow the dinner date with Dallin I was desperately longing for! And milk! Park day was especially refreshing and nourishing. I left feeling renewed.
I was so excited to go home and tell Dallin we could go on a date! He was at the library picking some things up for me. I just couldn't wait, so I had Nathan drive me down and drop me off. It was incredibly fun to have some minutes to browse the shelves uninterrupted! I took note that it was actually a pretty fun date. We both found some fun, free treasures to bring home. I told him about Daisy's gift and how much I needed a dinner out. (We are seriously the worst at dates. We have dinner together about twice a year.) He started heading for Café Rio, even though I hadn't told him that was where I wanted to go. I knew we could share a meal there for pretty cheap and still have money left for a few things at the store. Then he whipped a Café Rio gift card out of his wallet that he had won at work! We could each get our own meal! It was delicious and comforting and lovely to have that meal with him. We picked up the few necessities we could with our $16.38 and still had a dollar left for a couple of ice cream cones at the deli. I felt full and healed.
We came home to a giant package of toilet paper in our kitchen. I didn't mention that we ran out of toilet paper the night before co-op and I had to beg my friend to bring some for the 38 or so kids that would be there. So toilet paper was a more than welcome sight. My kids excitedly showed me the other goodies a friend had left for me. They told me she was being very sneaky, but they saw who she was. Loads and loads of groceries that I know she would not buy for her own family because they are having such frugal times. So humbling. The next morning I got a text from another friend that she was bringing me some butter. We were not home until later that day so I gave her the garage code. We came home to even more treats, more abundance! I am still finding treasures since she is the one who put the things away. Last night I found bacon! We had BLT's for dinner, and they were delicious! I'm still getting teary when I think of my friends sacrificing their precious food budgets for me. Sunday night, when our tummies were full of BLT deliciousness, another friend stopped by who had cleared her meager pantry to bring abundance to me. Again, how could I accept it, but how could I not? The Lord had answered my prayers through these people and I knew he would bless them for it. The variety of treats she brought complimented the other gifts in such a lovely way. How did she know we needed chips to go with our homemade salsa? And yummy Nesquick for a delicious milky treat. We are feeling downright spoiled!
As wonderful a relief as the food is, it isn't about the food. It is about the Lord answering my prayer to let me know I will be cared for. One way or another, He will care for me. How humbled and grateful I am to know I have friends I can count on to be there for me and care for me. These are the kinds of miracles that only happen when things get hard. I testify that prayers are answered.
...
Toddler Testimony
This morning while Dallin was reading scriptures and the children were eating oatmeal, Sullivan heard the Lord's name mentioned and had something to say.
"Dad! Jesus gave his blood for me and you and Ruby and Daisy and Mom!"
He is two and a half now. We are amazed and delighted by how well he speaks. His sweet little testimony was sparked by his recent curiosity in the lullabyes I sing to him. It is so wonderful to hear his honest little questions. As I was singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," He asked me about the "Ebeneezer" and later about "His Precious Blood". I'm touched that he remembered our conversation and felt a desire to share with Dad in our daily devotional.
I wonder how much more the mouth of that babe will reveal to us.
"Dad! Jesus gave his blood for me and you and Ruby and Daisy and Mom!"
He is two and a half now. We are amazed and delighted by how well he speaks. His sweet little testimony was sparked by his recent curiosity in the lullabyes I sing to him. It is so wonderful to hear his honest little questions. As I was singing "Come Thou Fount of Every Blessing," He asked me about the "Ebeneezer" and later about "His Precious Blood". I'm touched that he remembered our conversation and felt a desire to share with Dad in our daily devotional.
I wonder how much more the mouth of that babe will reveal to us.
Friday, September 26, 2014
Picking Dinner
I've grown many gardens in my 17 years of marriage. There are very few of those years that I have not had at least a few squash and tomatoes to tend. Some years we have had beautiful large gardens with abundant harvests.
It is getting harder to grow a garden as my family grows and becomes more involved outside the home. There are years where I really don't even want to think about it. I was so sick this winter that I didn't even entertain the thought of starting seedlings. And the different climate in the foothills and the persistent deer problem has been incredibly discouraging since we moved here. But I knew I had to at least make an effort to do a garden.
I actually bought several plants, which I never do. I had to replant a few crops that were planted wrong or didn't come up. Thanks to our "back to eden" gardening method, I knew that if I got the plants to come up, I wouldn't have much work to do from then on. I actually bought poison to kill the squash bugs that infested our pumpkin patch last year. I have never done that, either. It was just such a stretch for me to extend myself to this growing project that I couldn't bear to see it eaten up.
Still, there were plenty of squash bugs. And the deer kept the peas, beans, and cabbage and a perfect 3" all summer long. I went out when I could to check on things, to pull a few weeds, trying not to despair at the destruction I saw.
But the raspberry crop was encouraging, despite the deer chewing every tender shoot that emerged. We had enough berries to enjoy a few delicious snacks. And you wouldn't believe how happy our blackberries were! Such enormous juicy berries we have been enjoying! While picking raspberries, I noticed a lot of leafy crowding in the cage where we had planted a blueberry bush a few years ago. I bought it on clearance and decided to give it a try. I was disappointed when we put it in the ground to read on the tag that it needed a pollinator. I never really got around to finding another blueberry bush so it was rather neglected. When I approached the cage where it was growing protected from the deer, I noticed a wild plum tree had sprung up next to it. I pulled out the weeds and yanked out the sapling to find that the blueberry bush was still alive. And then, miraculously, I saw berries! 3 or 4 greenish to dark blue berries ripening on the neglected branches. Hope. It filled me with hope that maybe my garden wouldn't be a complete failure after all.
By then end of August, the corn was looking lovely. It has looked lovely before and prodced nothing so I had my doubts. But I picked enough corn in that one picking to feed us 2 meals! I got two more pickings from that corn, and we enjoyed it so much!
Things were growing and looking okay, but nothing looked super abundant. But for the past several weeks, I have been incredibly thankful for my little sparse garden. A multitude of expenses hit us late in the summer, and we found ourselves with no grocery money for this month. We are pretty good at storing food so I knew we would be fine. But what a difference fresh produce makes! When you can slice fresh cucumbers that don't even need to be peeled and add them to a sack lunch it makes such a difference. We had giant carrots that were cut into sticks and diced into soups along with onions, a few green beans, and even some weeds that we learned were edible. Each evening as the tiredness of the day would hit me, I would feel a dread about the task of dinner that lay ahead. No pre-planned meals for us. But when I said a little prayer, without fail, something would come to my mind that I could do with what was ripe that day. We had some delicious meals! Zuchinni soup with fresh sourdough bread, lentil soup with lots of vegetables, weeds, and the small portion of sausage I found at the back of the freezer that added so much flavor, Fresh salsa with corn and cucumbers. Chicken noodle soup without the chicken (nobody noticed), Tomato and Cucumber salads with red onion and balsamic vinaigrette, it made our little harvest seem so abundant! I don't know that I have ever used and enjoyed a harvest like I did this year.
Picking dinner has made dinner preparations take so much longer. But I have enjoyed the time in the sun and the time in the rain, the time with my little ones picking by my side, the smell of tomato vines and the stiff scratch of corn leaves. The miracle of the food in my hand that began as a seed in the dirt. The dirt and worms and bugs and using every cutting board in the house because everybody wants to help cut vegetables.
There is so much more to reap from the law of the harvest than a bit of food. I'm so glad I planted.
...
It is getting harder to grow a garden as my family grows and becomes more involved outside the home. There are years where I really don't even want to think about it. I was so sick this winter that I didn't even entertain the thought of starting seedlings. And the different climate in the foothills and the persistent deer problem has been incredibly discouraging since we moved here. But I knew I had to at least make an effort to do a garden.
I actually bought several plants, which I never do. I had to replant a few crops that were planted wrong or didn't come up. Thanks to our "back to eden" gardening method, I knew that if I got the plants to come up, I wouldn't have much work to do from then on. I actually bought poison to kill the squash bugs that infested our pumpkin patch last year. I have never done that, either. It was just such a stretch for me to extend myself to this growing project that I couldn't bear to see it eaten up.
Still, there were plenty of squash bugs. And the deer kept the peas, beans, and cabbage and a perfect 3" all summer long. I went out when I could to check on things, to pull a few weeds, trying not to despair at the destruction I saw.
But the raspberry crop was encouraging, despite the deer chewing every tender shoot that emerged. We had enough berries to enjoy a few delicious snacks. And you wouldn't believe how happy our blackberries were! Such enormous juicy berries we have been enjoying! While picking raspberries, I noticed a lot of leafy crowding in the cage where we had planted a blueberry bush a few years ago. I bought it on clearance and decided to give it a try. I was disappointed when we put it in the ground to read on the tag that it needed a pollinator. I never really got around to finding another blueberry bush so it was rather neglected. When I approached the cage where it was growing protected from the deer, I noticed a wild plum tree had sprung up next to it. I pulled out the weeds and yanked out the sapling to find that the blueberry bush was still alive. And then, miraculously, I saw berries! 3 or 4 greenish to dark blue berries ripening on the neglected branches. Hope. It filled me with hope that maybe my garden wouldn't be a complete failure after all.
By then end of August, the corn was looking lovely. It has looked lovely before and prodced nothing so I had my doubts. But I picked enough corn in that one picking to feed us 2 meals! I got two more pickings from that corn, and we enjoyed it so much!
Things were growing and looking okay, but nothing looked super abundant. But for the past several weeks, I have been incredibly thankful for my little sparse garden. A multitude of expenses hit us late in the summer, and we found ourselves with no grocery money for this month. We are pretty good at storing food so I knew we would be fine. But what a difference fresh produce makes! When you can slice fresh cucumbers that don't even need to be peeled and add them to a sack lunch it makes such a difference. We had giant carrots that were cut into sticks and diced into soups along with onions, a few green beans, and even some weeds that we learned were edible. Each evening as the tiredness of the day would hit me, I would feel a dread about the task of dinner that lay ahead. No pre-planned meals for us. But when I said a little prayer, without fail, something would come to my mind that I could do with what was ripe that day. We had some delicious meals! Zuchinni soup with fresh sourdough bread, lentil soup with lots of vegetables, weeds, and the small portion of sausage I found at the back of the freezer that added so much flavor, Fresh salsa with corn and cucumbers. Chicken noodle soup without the chicken (nobody noticed), Tomato and Cucumber salads with red onion and balsamic vinaigrette, it made our little harvest seem so abundant! I don't know that I have ever used and enjoyed a harvest like I did this year.
Picking dinner has made dinner preparations take so much longer. But I have enjoyed the time in the sun and the time in the rain, the time with my little ones picking by my side, the smell of tomato vines and the stiff scratch of corn leaves. The miracle of the food in my hand that began as a seed in the dirt. The dirt and worms and bugs and using every cutting board in the house because everybody wants to help cut vegetables.
There is so much more to reap from the law of the harvest than a bit of food. I'm so glad I planted.
...
Friday, September 5, 2014
Summer Reflections
Late in July, a friend asked me what I was currently working on in my personal life. I had to stop and think. A question I could normally answer readily with quite a list left me stumped.
"I am........resting," I said.
My life during last school year was pretty intense. We had a lot of great stuff going on. And I had chronic sinus infections all winter and into spring. When I was driving home from Shakespeare Showdown, something happened. I was driving a van full of kids home from Heber and my mind started to go foggy. I could tell a supreme headache was coming on in spite of the rare caffeinated drink I had just guzzled. By the time we got to Spanish Fork, I was making wrong turns and feeling completely miserable. By the time I got home, I was in full crash mode. That is not a great way to greet your kids who haven't seen you for 3 days. I faked it just long enough to unload the van and greet the kids. My neighbor Pam called and asked if I liked Curry and told me she had made dinner. I just cannot believe how serendipitous that was! It was exactly what I needed! I went to bed and felt much better. But I was still having the symptoms of dizziness and foggy brain and headaches into the next week. My body was just done. It was time for a rest.
So I rested this summer. And I needed it.
If you looked at my June calendar, you would probably not say that it was restful, but it was. I was home a lot. I played with my kids and sort of cleaned and sort of cooked. I didn't work on any of the big summer projects I want to do. I sort of kept my garden alive, but it mostly grew itself. I went to park days and had a wonderful, relaxing time getting to know so many new homeschoolers. Dallin was busy finishing his ESL endorsement class. The boys spent a weekend at Youth Conference and a week at Timberline. They had a great time at both. Nathan got his drivers license on his birthday so we enjoyed having an extra driver. We spent a few days in Idaho just relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins. Brandon did a few days of ballroom dance camp, which he loved. He also took several art lessons throughout the summer. We participated in our City Celebration with a parade, movie in the park, fireman's breakfast, and fair. Sarajoy turned 5. We were plenty busy, but I think I was just thriving on not being in charge of so much.
I was in charge of something pretty big in July: my family reunion! It was wonderful, though. We had everyone stay here, either in tents, trailers, or guest beds. 46 people in all! The only ones missing were our 2 missionaries and our army guy. It was pretty special to share our place with the people we love the most. On the way to the reunion, my mom was in a rollover accident with 3 of the grandkids, including Simon. We are so sure that they were watched out for by angels. Nobody was hurt, other than a few scratches. Such a blessing to have them here safely. It was very sobering to hear of the accident and know I couldn't be with Simon to help him feel calm. Thankfully he was with my mom.
Nathan got a job in a cherry factory working from 7pm to 5am. It was such a blessing that the kid across the street had the same shift so they could drive together. It was a really important experience for him. He hated it, but he loved earning so much money in such a short amount of time. He also learned that he will be happy with just about any other job. And he hates cherries. He was lifting about 36,000lbs a night! We were all glad when that was over because it was really hard having him on such an odd schedule, but there are no regrets.
We spent a rather miserable day at a lake with some of Dallin's co-workers. They were so nice, but I was still not really functioning well, it rained, there were not great accomodations for little kids, etc. Dallin and I had a long talk about whether such outings are even worth the trouble. They usually are, but we need to be careful to remember the wide age range we're dealing with. Ruby turned 12 (wow!) and left for girls' camp the next day. When she got back, we celebrated her and Sarajoy's birthdays with a horseback riding adventure. Simon was purely miserable with hives and wheezing. He apparently has a severe horse allergy. But Ruby and I were in heaven! I have never been horseback riding like that, where I could actually learn to control the animal. We were playing soccer on the horses! It was amazingly therapeutic for me. I did not want to stop. I think Ruby and I kept going for almost an hour after everyone else had gone back to the car. I had no idea I would love that so much! We had our friends the Mussers over from Missouri for a couple of days. That was special catching up time! Then Ruby and I went on a Do-It-Yourself EFY retreat with some of our homeschooling friends and their moms. It was so much fun! It was so great to have a closer bond with my own friends as well as the girls. It is special to get to spend some time where I can just focus on the older kids without distraction. A couple of us had our husbands and kids join us for a night after the crowd left, and we really enjoyed the amazing cabin we were blessed to stay in.
In August, I always panic a little because I know I have just a little time to get ready for school. I was still keeping things pretty restful, but trying to fit in some planning/organizing/decluttering to get us ready for a new school year. I was beginning to perk up from my crash, and starting to feel excited about plans for our school year. We went to Island Park for the 3rd year in a row. We stayed longer than we have ever been able to before. Dallin and the boys hiked Table Rock next to the Tetons. We got to go up into Yellowstone and see some hot pots and watch Old Faithful. Everyone's hearts were warmed by the cuteness of Sulley and his cousin Kenyon playing together. They can both talk so well that it is just amazing the things they come up with. We drove straight from Island Park to Las Vegas. It was crazy, but we decided to go through the night. We were feeling an urgency to get there and be with the family we have been feeling prompted to be with all summer. It turned out just perfectly! Brandon was able to help with Jimmy's Eagle project. We got to see our friends the Wells in their new house with their brand new baby! We got to spend some good time with Dallin's family as well. It was a whirlwind trip. We got there early Saturday morning and left Sunday afternoon, but it worked out just how it was supposed to. We stretched out the good times by splitting up so Dallin and Kevin Crandall could visit on the way home in one car while Karami and I were in another. The trip flew by that way! Dallin was back to work the next day and Nathan started school on Tuesday. I still gave myself another couple of weeks to prepare, and I still felt completely pulled under when we started on Sept. 2nd. We spent Labor Day weekend in Idaho packing in another few days of important events. We stayed Friday night at the Avenius home after celebrating the marriage of their son Jacob. He was one of Dallin's first scouts when we lived in New York. It was wonderful to see how happy Joan and Catherine are and fun to get reacquainted with Jacob and meet his new bride and her parents. The next day was spent in Shelley with the Crandalls helping them put a roof on their addition. We got to my parents' house late that night and spent Sunday and Monday with my family, helping wrap up Grandpa's honey extracting experience. It was a great way to end the summer: being with people we love. I am so grateful to be cared for by such amazing people.
It was a great summer! I don't regret the slow mornings or the evenings chatting with the older kids. I don't even regret watching a few movies and just relaxing instead of worrying about projects. We ate a lot of cold cereal and we laughed and smiled a lot. I grew closer to Nathan than I have felt in awhile because he was home with us so much! I feel renewed and ready to launch into the next great adventure!
"I am........resting," I said.
My life during last school year was pretty intense. We had a lot of great stuff going on. And I had chronic sinus infections all winter and into spring. When I was driving home from Shakespeare Showdown, something happened. I was driving a van full of kids home from Heber and my mind started to go foggy. I could tell a supreme headache was coming on in spite of the rare caffeinated drink I had just guzzled. By the time we got to Spanish Fork, I was making wrong turns and feeling completely miserable. By the time I got home, I was in full crash mode. That is not a great way to greet your kids who haven't seen you for 3 days. I faked it just long enough to unload the van and greet the kids. My neighbor Pam called and asked if I liked Curry and told me she had made dinner. I just cannot believe how serendipitous that was! It was exactly what I needed! I went to bed and felt much better. But I was still having the symptoms of dizziness and foggy brain and headaches into the next week. My body was just done. It was time for a rest.
So I rested this summer. And I needed it.
If you looked at my June calendar, you would probably not say that it was restful, but it was. I was home a lot. I played with my kids and sort of cleaned and sort of cooked. I didn't work on any of the big summer projects I want to do. I sort of kept my garden alive, but it mostly grew itself. I went to park days and had a wonderful, relaxing time getting to know so many new homeschoolers. Dallin was busy finishing his ESL endorsement class. The boys spent a weekend at Youth Conference and a week at Timberline. They had a great time at both. Nathan got his drivers license on his birthday so we enjoyed having an extra driver. We spent a few days in Idaho just relaxing with Grandma and Grandpa and cousins. Brandon did a few days of ballroom dance camp, which he loved. He also took several art lessons throughout the summer. We participated in our City Celebration with a parade, movie in the park, fireman's breakfast, and fair. Sarajoy turned 5. We were plenty busy, but I think I was just thriving on not being in charge of so much.
I was in charge of something pretty big in July: my family reunion! It was wonderful, though. We had everyone stay here, either in tents, trailers, or guest beds. 46 people in all! The only ones missing were our 2 missionaries and our army guy. It was pretty special to share our place with the people we love the most. On the way to the reunion, my mom was in a rollover accident with 3 of the grandkids, including Simon. We are so sure that they were watched out for by angels. Nobody was hurt, other than a few scratches. Such a blessing to have them here safely. It was very sobering to hear of the accident and know I couldn't be with Simon to help him feel calm. Thankfully he was with my mom.
Nathan got a job in a cherry factory working from 7pm to 5am. It was such a blessing that the kid across the street had the same shift so they could drive together. It was a really important experience for him. He hated it, but he loved earning so much money in such a short amount of time. He also learned that he will be happy with just about any other job. And he hates cherries. He was lifting about 36,000lbs a night! We were all glad when that was over because it was really hard having him on such an odd schedule, but there are no regrets.
We spent a rather miserable day at a lake with some of Dallin's co-workers. They were so nice, but I was still not really functioning well, it rained, there were not great accomodations for little kids, etc. Dallin and I had a long talk about whether such outings are even worth the trouble. They usually are, but we need to be careful to remember the wide age range we're dealing with. Ruby turned 12 (wow!) and left for girls' camp the next day. When she got back, we celebrated her and Sarajoy's birthdays with a horseback riding adventure. Simon was purely miserable with hives and wheezing. He apparently has a severe horse allergy. But Ruby and I were in heaven! I have never been horseback riding like that, where I could actually learn to control the animal. We were playing soccer on the horses! It was amazingly therapeutic for me. I did not want to stop. I think Ruby and I kept going for almost an hour after everyone else had gone back to the car. I had no idea I would love that so much! We had our friends the Mussers over from Missouri for a couple of days. That was special catching up time! Then Ruby and I went on a Do-It-Yourself EFY retreat with some of our homeschooling friends and their moms. It was so much fun! It was so great to have a closer bond with my own friends as well as the girls. It is special to get to spend some time where I can just focus on the older kids without distraction. A couple of us had our husbands and kids join us for a night after the crowd left, and we really enjoyed the amazing cabin we were blessed to stay in.
In August, I always panic a little because I know I have just a little time to get ready for school. I was still keeping things pretty restful, but trying to fit in some planning/organizing/decluttering to get us ready for a new school year. I was beginning to perk up from my crash, and starting to feel excited about plans for our school year. We went to Island Park for the 3rd year in a row. We stayed longer than we have ever been able to before. Dallin and the boys hiked Table Rock next to the Tetons. We got to go up into Yellowstone and see some hot pots and watch Old Faithful. Everyone's hearts were warmed by the cuteness of Sulley and his cousin Kenyon playing together. They can both talk so well that it is just amazing the things they come up with. We drove straight from Island Park to Las Vegas. It was crazy, but we decided to go through the night. We were feeling an urgency to get there and be with the family we have been feeling prompted to be with all summer. It turned out just perfectly! Brandon was able to help with Jimmy's Eagle project. We got to see our friends the Wells in their new house with their brand new baby! We got to spend some good time with Dallin's family as well. It was a whirlwind trip. We got there early Saturday morning and left Sunday afternoon, but it worked out just how it was supposed to. We stretched out the good times by splitting up so Dallin and Kevin Crandall could visit on the way home in one car while Karami and I were in another. The trip flew by that way! Dallin was back to work the next day and Nathan started school on Tuesday. I still gave myself another couple of weeks to prepare, and I still felt completely pulled under when we started on Sept. 2nd. We spent Labor Day weekend in Idaho packing in another few days of important events. We stayed Friday night at the Avenius home after celebrating the marriage of their son Jacob. He was one of Dallin's first scouts when we lived in New York. It was wonderful to see how happy Joan and Catherine are and fun to get reacquainted with Jacob and meet his new bride and her parents. The next day was spent in Shelley with the Crandalls helping them put a roof on their addition. We got to my parents' house late that night and spent Sunday and Monday with my family, helping wrap up Grandpa's honey extracting experience. It was a great way to end the summer: being with people we love. I am so grateful to be cared for by such amazing people.
It was a great summer! I don't regret the slow mornings or the evenings chatting with the older kids. I don't even regret watching a few movies and just relaxing instead of worrying about projects. We ate a lot of cold cereal and we laughed and smiled a lot. I grew closer to Nathan than I have felt in awhile because he was home with us so much! I feel renewed and ready to launch into the next great adventure!
Sunday, August 31, 2014
The Rug
When we moved into this house I splurged and bought a new bedspread, curtains, and rug for my bedroom. We'd had the same set I made for our wedding, and I was ready for something new.
About 6 months later, Dallin's grandma died and we were invited to go through her unclaimed belongings and take anything that we thought we could use.
My favorite find was a beautiful hand-quilted bedspread. It was a completely different color scheme than my room, but reflected the changes I felt my spirit had gone through during those past 6 months. I felt sad that this could not be my new bedspread. I considered if there was anywhere else in my house I could use it. As it was springtime, the bright green, orange and yellow flowers were so cheery. I put it on my bed for awhile anyway, just because it made me happy! But I realized I didn't want to wear it out. I put it away, hoping for a day I could make matching curtains and find the perfect rug and have a spring and summer ensemble to pull out for my bedroom every year.
Over the next 3 years, I looked for rugs and hoped for a few extra dollars from a tax return or something to make the cheery makeover possible, but no such luck. I was visiting my mom and we went to a discount store to look around. Just before we left, I decided to look at the rugs and just see if there was something that would work. There was a beautiful rug, with bright, cheery flowers on it! I fell in love with it more than I had the quilt. It was so perfect. But it was $150, and I was not prepared to spend that kind of money on something that was not a necessity.
When I got home, I thought a lot about the rug. I yearned for it. I was worried that if I tried to save the money it would not be there. I felt silly about how much I wanted it. I wasn't even sure that the colors were a good match, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I talked to Dallin about it. He felt like $150 was a great price for a rug, and realizing how infrequently I long for anything, he told me to send my mom some money and have her buy it. I was so touched by his generosity, but knew I needed to take a look at the finances before I sent any money anywhere. When I checked the finances, there was for sure no money anywhere for such a frill. I was disappointed. More disappointed than I should have been, and I knew it. I got on my knees and talked to the Lord about it for awhile. I asked him to show me a way to make it possible or to please take this ridiculous desire away.
The desire went away. I was so thankful and loved my room more than ever with the colors I had originally chosen and the beautifully framed painting of the Savior that I had purchased for Dallin's birthday earlier in the year.
The next time I went to my mom's, we realized late in the evening that there were a few groceries needed for the next day. I offered to go with Dallin and pick them up for my mom. She told me to take her car, and to take a look in the back because there was something in there for me. She watched from the window as I opened the hatch and saw the rug rolled up. She had just had a feeling that I ought to have it since I loved it so much!
When we got home, I bought some inexpensive fabrics to tie everything in the room together. Dallin stayed up one night, helping me sew curtains! It was such a happy transformation!
I didn't need that rug.
But sometimes a rug can be just the thing to help a person feel loved and cared for by her Lord, by her mother and her husband.
I am grateful to have felt that love and to have the rug that will always remind me of it.
...
About 6 months later, Dallin's grandma died and we were invited to go through her unclaimed belongings and take anything that we thought we could use.
My favorite find was a beautiful hand-quilted bedspread. It was a completely different color scheme than my room, but reflected the changes I felt my spirit had gone through during those past 6 months. I felt sad that this could not be my new bedspread. I considered if there was anywhere else in my house I could use it. As it was springtime, the bright green, orange and yellow flowers were so cheery. I put it on my bed for awhile anyway, just because it made me happy! But I realized I didn't want to wear it out. I put it away, hoping for a day I could make matching curtains and find the perfect rug and have a spring and summer ensemble to pull out for my bedroom every year.
Over the next 3 years, I looked for rugs and hoped for a few extra dollars from a tax return or something to make the cheery makeover possible, but no such luck. I was visiting my mom and we went to a discount store to look around. Just before we left, I decided to look at the rugs and just see if there was something that would work. There was a beautiful rug, with bright, cheery flowers on it! I fell in love with it more than I had the quilt. It was so perfect. But it was $150, and I was not prepared to spend that kind of money on something that was not a necessity.
When I got home, I thought a lot about the rug. I yearned for it. I was worried that if I tried to save the money it would not be there. I felt silly about how much I wanted it. I wasn't even sure that the colors were a good match, but I couldn't stop thinking about it. I talked to Dallin about it. He felt like $150 was a great price for a rug, and realizing how infrequently I long for anything, he told me to send my mom some money and have her buy it. I was so touched by his generosity, but knew I needed to take a look at the finances before I sent any money anywhere. When I checked the finances, there was for sure no money anywhere for such a frill. I was disappointed. More disappointed than I should have been, and I knew it. I got on my knees and talked to the Lord about it for awhile. I asked him to show me a way to make it possible or to please take this ridiculous desire away.
The desire went away. I was so thankful and loved my room more than ever with the colors I had originally chosen and the beautifully framed painting of the Savior that I had purchased for Dallin's birthday earlier in the year.
The next time I went to my mom's, we realized late in the evening that there were a few groceries needed for the next day. I offered to go with Dallin and pick them up for my mom. She told me to take her car, and to take a look in the back because there was something in there for me. She watched from the window as I opened the hatch and saw the rug rolled up. She had just had a feeling that I ought to have it since I loved it so much!
When we got home, I bought some inexpensive fabrics to tie everything in the room together. Dallin stayed up one night, helping me sew curtains! It was such a happy transformation!
I didn't need that rug.
But sometimes a rug can be just the thing to help a person feel loved and cared for by her Lord, by her mother and her husband.
I am grateful to have felt that love and to have the rug that will always remind me of it.
...
Saturday, May 31, 2014
May Notes
May flew by! Brandon took a wellness day to help me get all of the kids' vision checked. We were pretty sure that at least Brandon needed glasses. Since Ruby got hers in February he had made quite a few comments that made us think his vision had changed. He was the only one that needed them, and I think he looks pretty handsome! I was able to exchange the new ones I got in February that I have hated and regretted. My new ones are SO much better. I am so glad Dallin talked me in to mentioning it to them. They were really nice about it.
I was pretty busy with dress rehearsals and gathering last minute costume supplies. I found a surprising number of lovely fedoras at DI. The play was a 1940's musical version of The Taming of The Shrew. It was so good! So much fun! They did a dress rehearsal on the 8th and their performance on the 10th. They performed it again at Shakespeare Showdown Camp on the 20th. I was so glad I got to go help out and get to know the kids and the other moms better. The first night there was a dance, so I got to help a few of the girls do their hair. The counselors asked me to judge the skit competition and told me I needed to be a character. I decided to be Rozz from Monsters Inc. It was really fun to have the kids get me dressed up. They made me fancy glasses and painted my nails and did my makeup. I had a fun wig in my costume stuff. My sister-in-law Lara was at Showdown with her daughter, and she had the perfect green dress for me to wear. We got to judge together, and it was so fun! She was Mrs. Gandalf. I didn't even know she would be up there so it was a great surprise! It was really fun to be Rozz. I think I shocked some of the kids I was chaperoning!
Ruby's face and jaw have really been changing quickly so we realized we'd better get her in to the orthodontist. She is missing 3 permanent teeth, so she has some serious problems. It will be over $6,000 by the time we're done, but she hopefully won't need implants. And one of her permanent teeth came in that they thought was coming in the roof of her mouth, so she won't have to have oral surgery to expose that like they thought she would. She has her first appliance in her mouth right now, and it is giving her a big gap in her front teeth that is pretty goofy. She is struggling to talk and eat properly. Poor girl.
Nathan's end of year concert was fun. I'm glad he likes choir even though I don't think his teacher is nearly as good as his Jr. High one was.
Brandon was able to advance to Life Scout, so he can start thinking Eagle. Woo Hoo!
We forgot to take any notes about our little cat's behavior, but it soon became obvious she was pregnant. We did our best to guess based on when she started showing and thought that it would most likely be the last week of May or first week of June. She is a very shy and skittish cat. She doesn't want anything to do with me, and especially not Dallin. On Sunday the first of June (I know, but I couldn't wait to announce it...) She was looking in the garage window when Dallin and I got up to go for a stroll through the yard. She came in the garage, mewing a lot. She came right up to me and then walked into the house in front of Dallin. Both things she would not have normally done. Made me wonder....That evening, we went in the garage to go to the neighbors for an ice cream social and I heard the tiny little meows! There she was with her 4 tiny babies. She is a calico and I was really hoping for at least one orange kitten. She has 3! And one little black and white one. It is so fun to go check on her and watch her mother them. They are so tiny and cute. I am happy that my kids get a summer of kittens.
Our stake did a big party for Stake conference on Saturday the 10th. Dallin and Brandon and Simon went to the father and son's campout. Nathan decided to stay and run the 5K. Ruby also ran. Nathan took 4th overall. The 3 ahead of him were kids he knew from school and soccer. It was a pretty hard race because it was mostly uphill the first half and mostly downhill the 2nd. Nathan said the downhill was actually really rough. Ruby did really well. I think she was the first girl in her age group to come in, but they didn't distinguish between boys and girls for the awards. After that was a pancake breakfast and games. We took the boys to the adult session that night. The next day they had planned to pipe the conference into two other chapels, but it was not working in our building. When we went down to the Stake Center, it was completely packed. Every nook and cranny was full of people trying to listen. There were people in the library watching it on the tiny little monitor in there. There were people in the kitchen, too. We ended up setting up 2 rows of chairs in the foyer and getting bits and pieces. Definitely not the most inspiring thing, but I got a few good notes.
Daisy has continued to have swollen glands since Christmas. She has them pop up in different places. Sometimes right under her ear so she feels like she has an ear infection. Sometimes lower on her neck or on her cheek. She has never had a fever or seemed really sick. She would maybe have an earache or a sore throat for a few hours one day but then seem fine. She would occasionally mention a bad taste in her mouth, so I figured she was having sinus drainage, but again it never lasted very long and she never had a fever. She also complained of a really bad toothache a couple of times, but then it would go away for weeks at a time. I was trying to support her immune system with herbs and oils, but I'm notoriously inconsistent with those things. The Friday before Showdown, her tooth was hurting really bad again. I thought it would be just another come and go thing. It wasn't. By that night she couldn't sleep, even with lots of ibuprophen in her. She was pretty miserable on Saturday as well. I wasn't sure what to do. By that night, I was extremely stressed out about leaving for Showdown if she was not well, but wasn't sure she was sick enough to take to the emergency room, plus what would they do for a toothache? She was still acting pretty normal other than the pain that we were managing with iburprophen. There were no visible signs and no fever. Nathan also had a giant wart he had been treating with dry ice that had begun to ooze and smell bad. It was pretty stressful for me to think of leaving kids that could need medical attention. I prayed and prayed that evening to know what I should do. We all got blessings. I decided that if there was no improvement the next day, I would find someone else to go to Showdown. In the middle of the night, I was awakened suddenly with the thought that Daisy had a sinus infection. I thought back to all of the symptoms, and it made sense. I had had sinus pain earlier that felt like toothache and talked to my dentist about it. He said it is pretty common because those sinuses are right above the teeth. Everything came together in my mind, so I thought it must be the answer to my prayer. Early the next morning when she awoke for pain medication, I noticed that that side of her face and cheek were swollen, and under her eye was darker than the other. I have plenty of experience with my own sinus issues, so it seemed to be another confirmation that it was sinuses. We got her into the urgent care as soon as they were opened. The doctor listened to the symptoms and agreed it was a sinus infection. He prescribed amoxicillin for 10 days, thinking that it would work well since she has not been on antibiotics very much in her life. Her pain and swelling continued to get worse that day, but the Dr. said it could take up to 3 days for her to feel better. I was just glad she was on antibiotics and felt that it would be okay for me to go to the camp. Later that day, she showed me that a bump was rising on her gum just above the tooth that was hurting. Great. So maybe it IS a tooth! By the next morning, it was about as large as a small pea. Dallin texted the dentist, hoping he could somehow manage to get Daisy there and still fulfill his busy work schedule for the day. I talked to a friend and signed a release and gave her the forms in case she needed to take her to the dentist. Stressful. By this time I was loading kids in my van and wondering again if I was being completely ridiculous. I felt I should go and all would be well. It was. Daisy was able to rest. Ruby did well with the kids. My neighbor was happy to help out. Dallin finally got ahold of the dentist after 6pm. The dentist had already had a crazy day with no lunch break, but he told Dallin to meet him at his house. When he saw Daisy and felt that the lump was somewhat soft, he decided he needed to take her back to the office for an X-ray. There was nothing. Absolutely no explanation for the lump or the pain. Her teeth looked fine. No sign of cavity, her permanent tooth in that area was still a year or so away from growing in. That was very disappointing and disturbing to Daisy. She was really hoping for some answers! The pain slowly got better over the week of antibiotics. By the time I got home, she was not needing ibuprophen except at night. Then she stopped needing it. Because of Memorial Day, we missed her last couple of doses. The pain returned. We had her finish up the rest of the medicine for the next few days. The pharmacist said there would be leftovers, but we just had her finish it up. Last night, she accidentally bumped the bump with her toothbrush. It is slightly smaller, and has divided into two bumps. She says it looks like a bum. :) It bled a little, and she woke in the night with some pain. She was able to go back to sleep without medication. She showed me last night that she has a cyst-like bump on the lower back part of her head and it hurts. What in the world??? She already has an appointment with the dentist on Monday. I hoped today I could at least consult with the chiropractor, but I didn't hear back until it was too late to make another appointment. He can't see her till next week, so I guess I'll take her in tomorrow. Weirdness.
I was pretty busy with dress rehearsals and gathering last minute costume supplies. I found a surprising number of lovely fedoras at DI. The play was a 1940's musical version of The Taming of The Shrew. It was so good! So much fun! They did a dress rehearsal on the 8th and their performance on the 10th. They performed it again at Shakespeare Showdown Camp on the 20th. I was so glad I got to go help out and get to know the kids and the other moms better. The first night there was a dance, so I got to help a few of the girls do their hair. The counselors asked me to judge the skit competition and told me I needed to be a character. I decided to be Rozz from Monsters Inc. It was really fun to have the kids get me dressed up. They made me fancy glasses and painted my nails and did my makeup. I had a fun wig in my costume stuff. My sister-in-law Lara was at Showdown with her daughter, and she had the perfect green dress for me to wear. We got to judge together, and it was so fun! She was Mrs. Gandalf. I didn't even know she would be up there so it was a great surprise! It was really fun to be Rozz. I think I shocked some of the kids I was chaperoning!
Ruby's face and jaw have really been changing quickly so we realized we'd better get her in to the orthodontist. She is missing 3 permanent teeth, so she has some serious problems. It will be over $6,000 by the time we're done, but she hopefully won't need implants. And one of her permanent teeth came in that they thought was coming in the roof of her mouth, so she won't have to have oral surgery to expose that like they thought she would. She has her first appliance in her mouth right now, and it is giving her a big gap in her front teeth that is pretty goofy. She is struggling to talk and eat properly. Poor girl.
Nathan's end of year concert was fun. I'm glad he likes choir even though I don't think his teacher is nearly as good as his Jr. High one was.
Brandon was able to advance to Life Scout, so he can start thinking Eagle. Woo Hoo!
We forgot to take any notes about our little cat's behavior, but it soon became obvious she was pregnant. We did our best to guess based on when she started showing and thought that it would most likely be the last week of May or first week of June. She is a very shy and skittish cat. She doesn't want anything to do with me, and especially not Dallin. On Sunday the first of June (I know, but I couldn't wait to announce it...) She was looking in the garage window when Dallin and I got up to go for a stroll through the yard. She came in the garage, mewing a lot. She came right up to me and then walked into the house in front of Dallin. Both things she would not have normally done. Made me wonder....That evening, we went in the garage to go to the neighbors for an ice cream social and I heard the tiny little meows! There she was with her 4 tiny babies. She is a calico and I was really hoping for at least one orange kitten. She has 3! And one little black and white one. It is so fun to go check on her and watch her mother them. They are so tiny and cute. I am happy that my kids get a summer of kittens.
Our stake did a big party for Stake conference on Saturday the 10th. Dallin and Brandon and Simon went to the father and son's campout. Nathan decided to stay and run the 5K. Ruby also ran. Nathan took 4th overall. The 3 ahead of him were kids he knew from school and soccer. It was a pretty hard race because it was mostly uphill the first half and mostly downhill the 2nd. Nathan said the downhill was actually really rough. Ruby did really well. I think she was the first girl in her age group to come in, but they didn't distinguish between boys and girls for the awards. After that was a pancake breakfast and games. We took the boys to the adult session that night. The next day they had planned to pipe the conference into two other chapels, but it was not working in our building. When we went down to the Stake Center, it was completely packed. Every nook and cranny was full of people trying to listen. There were people in the library watching it on the tiny little monitor in there. There were people in the kitchen, too. We ended up setting up 2 rows of chairs in the foyer and getting bits and pieces. Definitely not the most inspiring thing, but I got a few good notes.
Daisy has continued to have swollen glands since Christmas. She has them pop up in different places. Sometimes right under her ear so she feels like she has an ear infection. Sometimes lower on her neck or on her cheek. She has never had a fever or seemed really sick. She would maybe have an earache or a sore throat for a few hours one day but then seem fine. She would occasionally mention a bad taste in her mouth, so I figured she was having sinus drainage, but again it never lasted very long and she never had a fever. She also complained of a really bad toothache a couple of times, but then it would go away for weeks at a time. I was trying to support her immune system with herbs and oils, but I'm notoriously inconsistent with those things. The Friday before Showdown, her tooth was hurting really bad again. I thought it would be just another come and go thing. It wasn't. By that night she couldn't sleep, even with lots of ibuprophen in her. She was pretty miserable on Saturday as well. I wasn't sure what to do. By that night, I was extremely stressed out about leaving for Showdown if she was not well, but wasn't sure she was sick enough to take to the emergency room, plus what would they do for a toothache? She was still acting pretty normal other than the pain that we were managing with iburprophen. There were no visible signs and no fever. Nathan also had a giant wart he had been treating with dry ice that had begun to ooze and smell bad. It was pretty stressful for me to think of leaving kids that could need medical attention. I prayed and prayed that evening to know what I should do. We all got blessings. I decided that if there was no improvement the next day, I would find someone else to go to Showdown. In the middle of the night, I was awakened suddenly with the thought that Daisy had a sinus infection. I thought back to all of the symptoms, and it made sense. I had had sinus pain earlier that felt like toothache and talked to my dentist about it. He said it is pretty common because those sinuses are right above the teeth. Everything came together in my mind, so I thought it must be the answer to my prayer. Early the next morning when she awoke for pain medication, I noticed that that side of her face and cheek were swollen, and under her eye was darker than the other. I have plenty of experience with my own sinus issues, so it seemed to be another confirmation that it was sinuses. We got her into the urgent care as soon as they were opened. The doctor listened to the symptoms and agreed it was a sinus infection. He prescribed amoxicillin for 10 days, thinking that it would work well since she has not been on antibiotics very much in her life. Her pain and swelling continued to get worse that day, but the Dr. said it could take up to 3 days for her to feel better. I was just glad she was on antibiotics and felt that it would be okay for me to go to the camp. Later that day, she showed me that a bump was rising on her gum just above the tooth that was hurting. Great. So maybe it IS a tooth! By the next morning, it was about as large as a small pea. Dallin texted the dentist, hoping he could somehow manage to get Daisy there and still fulfill his busy work schedule for the day. I talked to a friend and signed a release and gave her the forms in case she needed to take her to the dentist. Stressful. By this time I was loading kids in my van and wondering again if I was being completely ridiculous. I felt I should go and all would be well. It was. Daisy was able to rest. Ruby did well with the kids. My neighbor was happy to help out. Dallin finally got ahold of the dentist after 6pm. The dentist had already had a crazy day with no lunch break, but he told Dallin to meet him at his house. When he saw Daisy and felt that the lump was somewhat soft, he decided he needed to take her back to the office for an X-ray. There was nothing. Absolutely no explanation for the lump or the pain. Her teeth looked fine. No sign of cavity, her permanent tooth in that area was still a year or so away from growing in. That was very disappointing and disturbing to Daisy. She was really hoping for some answers! The pain slowly got better over the week of antibiotics. By the time I got home, she was not needing ibuprophen except at night. Then she stopped needing it. Because of Memorial Day, we missed her last couple of doses. The pain returned. We had her finish up the rest of the medicine for the next few days. The pharmacist said there would be leftovers, but we just had her finish it up. Last night, she accidentally bumped the bump with her toothbrush. It is slightly smaller, and has divided into two bumps. She says it looks like a bum. :) It bled a little, and she woke in the night with some pain. She was able to go back to sleep without medication. She showed me last night that she has a cyst-like bump on the lower back part of her head and it hurts. What in the world??? She already has an appointment with the dentist on Monday. I hoped today I could at least consult with the chiropractor, but I didn't hear back until it was too late to make another appointment. He can't see her till next week, so I guess I'll take her in tomorrow. Weirdness.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Not Room Enough To Receive
I see.
I am learning to notice, to pause, to appreciate.
But how can I record when the moments demand all of my attention?
The windows of heaven are open and the blessing moments are spilling, flowing, rushing.
Pouring down upon me and around me, carrying me away.
Gifts of long eyelashes and chubby hands
Of foot pain and sinus headaches that remind me of his suffering and therefore his love
Of gloriously beautiful views of the lake. A different color every day--always beautiful or at least interesting.
Gifts of stumbles and tiredness and problems I can't solve.
Of the grass. The lovely soft green grass that was only imagination when we moved here.
Of kids hurting from bullies, from toothaches, from sick stomach, from giant warts, from imperfect parenting.
Of homemade love notes and creations with staples and tape and cereal boxes that overflow my kitchen and my heart.
Of soccer games and concert and play and Shakespeare camp.
Of hours gathering costumes and hours away from babies and hours of pure enjoyment with youth.
I was alone once. There atop a mountain tending a fire. I saw or heard no other person. Alone.
But I saw that there was much to notice. Leaves emerging from dead looking branches. Clouds moving quickly across a blue sky. An owl hooting. The fire--it was truly licking the logs.
I was not alone.
As I noticed all that loves to be noticed, I remembered each of my children. Memory photos flicked across my mind. Moments captured but impossible to describe.
I was noticed.
They love to be noticed by me and I love to be noticed by Him and he loves to notice even hairs on my head and logs being licked.
As stars appeared I wondered about His home and which way should I look to see Him?
All ways. In every direction. In all of the moments. In all of the gifts he sends.
In conversations with friends where we both leave feeling edified.
In spontaneous family soccer games in the back yard.
In months and months of enduring the failure to get up and do the routine.
In the satisfaction of slow mornings full of snuggles.
In the thoughts expressed two-year-old fashion. Remarkable.
In the worry. Will he be okay without mommy milk?
In the disappointment that weaning does not mean full nights of sleep.
In the pleasure of hearing his voice from his little room, speaking so clearly: "I'm ready to snuggle, mom."
"I need a drink because my milk all gone." 9 words! I think he is a genius!
In the new look of two kids now in glasses.
In orthodontic bills over 6 thousand dollars! Really? Even there?
Yes, because I know He will provide. He will show us the way.
In the surprise of a snowblower gift. A gift of generosity that will help us look forward to winter even while spring snow still gleams atop our mountain.
Our mountain is so beautiful in spring. All shades of green below, rising to purest white, topped with bluest sky. I live in such splendor!
Cars and washers and the roof need fixing.
The plants are dying in the garden. I can't seem to keep up with it all.
But I am growing.
...
I am learning to notice, to pause, to appreciate.
But how can I record when the moments demand all of my attention?
The windows of heaven are open and the blessing moments are spilling, flowing, rushing.
Pouring down upon me and around me, carrying me away.
Gifts of long eyelashes and chubby hands
Of foot pain and sinus headaches that remind me of his suffering and therefore his love
Of gloriously beautiful views of the lake. A different color every day--always beautiful or at least interesting.
Gifts of stumbles and tiredness and problems I can't solve.
Of the grass. The lovely soft green grass that was only imagination when we moved here.
Of kids hurting from bullies, from toothaches, from sick stomach, from giant warts, from imperfect parenting.
Of homemade love notes and creations with staples and tape and cereal boxes that overflow my kitchen and my heart.
Of soccer games and concert and play and Shakespeare camp.
Of hours gathering costumes and hours away from babies and hours of pure enjoyment with youth.
I was alone once. There atop a mountain tending a fire. I saw or heard no other person. Alone.
But I saw that there was much to notice. Leaves emerging from dead looking branches. Clouds moving quickly across a blue sky. An owl hooting. The fire--it was truly licking the logs.
I was not alone.
As I noticed all that loves to be noticed, I remembered each of my children. Memory photos flicked across my mind. Moments captured but impossible to describe.
I was noticed.
They love to be noticed by me and I love to be noticed by Him and he loves to notice even hairs on my head and logs being licked.
As stars appeared I wondered about His home and which way should I look to see Him?
All ways. In every direction. In all of the moments. In all of the gifts he sends.
In conversations with friends where we both leave feeling edified.
In spontaneous family soccer games in the back yard.
In months and months of enduring the failure to get up and do the routine.
In the satisfaction of slow mornings full of snuggles.
In the thoughts expressed two-year-old fashion. Remarkable.
In the worry. Will he be okay without mommy milk?
In the disappointment that weaning does not mean full nights of sleep.
In the pleasure of hearing his voice from his little room, speaking so clearly: "I'm ready to snuggle, mom."
"I need a drink because my milk all gone." 9 words! I think he is a genius!
In the new look of two kids now in glasses.
In orthodontic bills over 6 thousand dollars! Really? Even there?
Yes, because I know He will provide. He will show us the way.
In the surprise of a snowblower gift. A gift of generosity that will help us look forward to winter even while spring snow still gleams atop our mountain.
Our mountain is so beautiful in spring. All shades of green below, rising to purest white, topped with bluest sky. I live in such splendor!
Cars and washers and the roof need fixing.
The plants are dying in the garden. I can't seem to keep up with it all.
But I am growing.
...
Wednesday, April 30, 2014
April Notes
I sure love April! Especially General Conference. This is the first time I didn't fall asleep at all! I enjoyed it so much. I am always sad when it is over now. It is so nourishing to feel supported and inspired by our Prophet and Apostles.
That weekend ushered in Spring Break for us. We had talked about doing a family vacation, but things kept getting scheduled in here and there and we finally gave in and just stayed home. I'm so glad we did!! It would have been fun to go on a trip, but it was much more fun to just be home and be together.
My favorite thing about my birthday was that I didn't have to check the clock once all day. We spent some time playing together at the park, we went to Pizza Pie Café, and we watched the new episode of Studio C. It was just so nice and relaxing and lovely to be with everyone.
We spent some time the next day at the park before taking the girls to their book club. The next morning we got up very early and drove to Fillmore to play in the hot pots there. It was a highlight of our Spring Break last year and it didn't disappoint this year either. There were some other campers there, but they were just waking up and it worked out just fine for us to enjoy the pool. We were hoping to go to the Statehouse museum again, but ran out of time. We all went up to Trenaisa's so she and Tanner could go with Dallin and the boys to the Oquirrh mountain temple. I stayed back with the little ones and had a nice visit with Paul. The younger kids had a great time with Connor and their doggies. Paul and Trenaisa are so generous to us! They fed us a wonderful dinner and sent us home with bags and bags of amazing hand-me-downs. What a blessing! Trenaisa even let the little kids take a big bubble bath in her deep jetted tub. It was such a treat, and so nice for them to go home nice and clean in fresh jammies. Sullivan completely freaked out when we turned on the jets, though!
Brandon spent all Friday at a Constitution Bowl with his Key of Liberty class. His team did not do very well, but he had fun and learned a lot about the Constitution, so it was all good. Grandma and Grandpa came that night and stayed with us. I traveled with them to Heber the next day to attend Garth Brown's funeral. (My first cousin) It was incredibly beautiful and spiritual. It was lovely to see Suzie and all of her children. She has always seemed like such a soft and spiritual person. True to that form, she delivered a very beautiful and spirit-filled life sketch of Garth's life. It was really neat to see some of the family members that I haven't seen for awhile, especially Suzie's 11 living children and their families. What an example she is! We had fun sitting at a table with Tanaya and Sheryl and Chris and Kalynn and visiting with them during the luncheon.
Nathan has been having a really great soccer year, getting better and better throughout the season. It is always amazing to me what he can do when he is so much smaller than everyone else. He has really learned how to hustle after the ball and keep up his energy during his games. He got a couple of injuries that kept him out a few times. I finally took him to the chiropractor and he instantly healed the hip flexor problem he'd been having for months. He went straight from the chiropractor to one of his final games and was able to play just fine. He hasn't had a problem with it since. Unfortunately, he never got back on top of his game. He kind of struggled for the rest of the season and ultimately told us he was done with soccer. He was done with the profanity and bullying of some of the kids on his team. It was really heartbreaking to hear that that was going on and that it really began to affect his ability to perform. He was also trying to decide what to do about choir. He decided not to try out, but to do other things. His choir teacher begged him to try out, alluding that he would be able to make the advanced choir. So Nathan practiced and made it to call backs and then wasn't chosen. And his soccer coach who is a seminary teacher belittled him in front of the team for missing a couple of practices to go to the temple. Let me just say that my mama bear instincts were fully tested! I wanted to punch a few people in the face!! I'm proud of him for handling it all so well and ultimately deciding to keep going with choir and soccer because he loves to do them. (Some of this happened in May).
Easter was really neat this year. In March, my friend showed me an e-book she downloaded about Lent. We decided to do some of the activities and try to make Easter as special and Christ-focused as Christmas. We learned some of the traditional sayings and rituals associated with lent. We put up paintings of Christ that we have from several different artists. We hung a banner in the living room that says He Is Risen! We planted Wheat Grass to remind us of resurrection. I hung my string eggs and some wallet-sized prints of Jesus over the kitchen table. It was serendipitous that when Nathan's friend returned from choir tour and told us they sang in a cathedral, but couldn't sing All Creatures of our God and King because of Lent. We pulled up some articles and found out that they save the "Alleluia" for Easter and don't use it during Lent. We all wore purple one day as it is symbolic of Christ's bruising and also his royalty. We downloaded some really beautiful music from Hoffmanhouse.com about the savior that really added to the spirit. The Sunday before Easter was my Choralais Choir concert. I was asked to prepare a children's choir number for the program. I knew I wouldn't have time to practice with a group, so I just asked if my kids could do it. They asked them to sing Gethsemane. It was really really wonderful! A lot of people said it was the highlight of the concert. Ruby, Daisy, Simon, and Sarajoy each had a little solo part. It was so cute to hear Sarajoy sing at the top of her voice, "Get-sem-a-nee, Dee-sus loves me!" and to see Simon with his little paper that he always wanted to have to remember his words. The big boys stood in the back and did background harmony. It was pretty special! We sure love that song and another one by the Hoffmans, I will Anchor My Soul In Christ, that has become a sort of anthem for our family. I also got to do a solo that really showcased my voice, so that was neat. I was surprised at how much I loved singing in the choir this year. I was so busy, but glad I made time for it. The music really stayed with me and strengthened my spirit throughout the week. I loved having a more Christ-centered Easter.
We did Easter Baskets a week early since Grandma and Grandpa were here for Spring Break. It was fun to have them be a part of it, and especially fun to stay up with Mom getting them ready. So nice to have help! We had lots of good candy, a few kinds we'd never tried before! The kids got a few fun outside things like chalk and bubbles. We got some nice soccer goals to use in the backyard and they've seen a lot of use! Hooray for having a lawn! The day before Easter was a gorgeous day, and we had a great time at the annual neighborhood Egg hunt. We were the last to leave because the hosts are so neat to visit with. Brother Bigler has helped us a lot with our landscaping and he was telling Dallin about a good deal on a used fence he knew about!
Shakespeare really got busy in April with lots of long rehearsals, and I was asked to be the costume director. The director had already purchased quite a few costumes and the boys were mostly wearing their own suits. I was in charge of all of the little details in accessories and props and also in charge of keeping everything in order and together. It was a big job, but really fun!
Thanks to Chris skyping in and giving us a tutorial, we were able to finally build the new computer. It was a really neat project. I'm still (in June) trying to figure out how to use it! It has been nice, and all of the kids have enjoyed creating on minecraft. I love how they can make their imaginings come to life. Ruby is in heaven because she made a farm with horses she can actually ride and cats that follow her around everywhere.
One night when I knew I was going to be gone and Dallin was feeling a little under the weather, I suggested he take them to the movies. The Lego movie just happened to be playing at the cheap theater. They had a great time. Dallin was thinking he'd go on a campout with the boys, but the campout ended up being cancelled. Brandon was really glad because he was kinda burned out from all of his Shakespeare classes and campouts are not his favorite. He was thrilled that he got to go to a movie. When the kids announced he wasn't going camping and they were going to a movie instead, he thought it was a mean joke! They had a great time and so did I at a mom's planning meeting for next school year.
That weekend ushered in Spring Break for us. We had talked about doing a family vacation, but things kept getting scheduled in here and there and we finally gave in and just stayed home. I'm so glad we did!! It would have been fun to go on a trip, but it was much more fun to just be home and be together.
My favorite thing about my birthday was that I didn't have to check the clock once all day. We spent some time playing together at the park, we went to Pizza Pie Café, and we watched the new episode of Studio C. It was just so nice and relaxing and lovely to be with everyone.
We spent some time the next day at the park before taking the girls to their book club. The next morning we got up very early and drove to Fillmore to play in the hot pots there. It was a highlight of our Spring Break last year and it didn't disappoint this year either. There were some other campers there, but they were just waking up and it worked out just fine for us to enjoy the pool. We were hoping to go to the Statehouse museum again, but ran out of time. We all went up to Trenaisa's so she and Tanner could go with Dallin and the boys to the Oquirrh mountain temple. I stayed back with the little ones and had a nice visit with Paul. The younger kids had a great time with Connor and their doggies. Paul and Trenaisa are so generous to us! They fed us a wonderful dinner and sent us home with bags and bags of amazing hand-me-downs. What a blessing! Trenaisa even let the little kids take a big bubble bath in her deep jetted tub. It was such a treat, and so nice for them to go home nice and clean in fresh jammies. Sullivan completely freaked out when we turned on the jets, though!
Brandon spent all Friday at a Constitution Bowl with his Key of Liberty class. His team did not do very well, but he had fun and learned a lot about the Constitution, so it was all good. Grandma and Grandpa came that night and stayed with us. I traveled with them to Heber the next day to attend Garth Brown's funeral. (My first cousin) It was incredibly beautiful and spiritual. It was lovely to see Suzie and all of her children. She has always seemed like such a soft and spiritual person. True to that form, she delivered a very beautiful and spirit-filled life sketch of Garth's life. It was really neat to see some of the family members that I haven't seen for awhile, especially Suzie's 11 living children and their families. What an example she is! We had fun sitting at a table with Tanaya and Sheryl and Chris and Kalynn and visiting with them during the luncheon.
Nathan has been having a really great soccer year, getting better and better throughout the season. It is always amazing to me what he can do when he is so much smaller than everyone else. He has really learned how to hustle after the ball and keep up his energy during his games. He got a couple of injuries that kept him out a few times. I finally took him to the chiropractor and he instantly healed the hip flexor problem he'd been having for months. He went straight from the chiropractor to one of his final games and was able to play just fine. He hasn't had a problem with it since. Unfortunately, he never got back on top of his game. He kind of struggled for the rest of the season and ultimately told us he was done with soccer. He was done with the profanity and bullying of some of the kids on his team. It was really heartbreaking to hear that that was going on and that it really began to affect his ability to perform. He was also trying to decide what to do about choir. He decided not to try out, but to do other things. His choir teacher begged him to try out, alluding that he would be able to make the advanced choir. So Nathan practiced and made it to call backs and then wasn't chosen. And his soccer coach who is a seminary teacher belittled him in front of the team for missing a couple of practices to go to the temple. Let me just say that my mama bear instincts were fully tested! I wanted to punch a few people in the face!! I'm proud of him for handling it all so well and ultimately deciding to keep going with choir and soccer because he loves to do them. (Some of this happened in May).
Easter was really neat this year. In March, my friend showed me an e-book she downloaded about Lent. We decided to do some of the activities and try to make Easter as special and Christ-focused as Christmas. We learned some of the traditional sayings and rituals associated with lent. We put up paintings of Christ that we have from several different artists. We hung a banner in the living room that says He Is Risen! We planted Wheat Grass to remind us of resurrection. I hung my string eggs and some wallet-sized prints of Jesus over the kitchen table. It was serendipitous that when Nathan's friend returned from choir tour and told us they sang in a cathedral, but couldn't sing All Creatures of our God and King because of Lent. We pulled up some articles and found out that they save the "Alleluia" for Easter and don't use it during Lent. We all wore purple one day as it is symbolic of Christ's bruising and also his royalty. We downloaded some really beautiful music from Hoffmanhouse.com about the savior that really added to the spirit. The Sunday before Easter was my Choralais Choir concert. I was asked to prepare a children's choir number for the program. I knew I wouldn't have time to practice with a group, so I just asked if my kids could do it. They asked them to sing Gethsemane. It was really really wonderful! A lot of people said it was the highlight of the concert. Ruby, Daisy, Simon, and Sarajoy each had a little solo part. It was so cute to hear Sarajoy sing at the top of her voice, "Get-sem-a-nee, Dee-sus loves me!" and to see Simon with his little paper that he always wanted to have to remember his words. The big boys stood in the back and did background harmony. It was pretty special! We sure love that song and another one by the Hoffmans, I will Anchor My Soul In Christ, that has become a sort of anthem for our family. I also got to do a solo that really showcased my voice, so that was neat. I was surprised at how much I loved singing in the choir this year. I was so busy, but glad I made time for it. The music really stayed with me and strengthened my spirit throughout the week. I loved having a more Christ-centered Easter.
We did Easter Baskets a week early since Grandma and Grandpa were here for Spring Break. It was fun to have them be a part of it, and especially fun to stay up with Mom getting them ready. So nice to have help! We had lots of good candy, a few kinds we'd never tried before! The kids got a few fun outside things like chalk and bubbles. We got some nice soccer goals to use in the backyard and they've seen a lot of use! Hooray for having a lawn! The day before Easter was a gorgeous day, and we had a great time at the annual neighborhood Egg hunt. We were the last to leave because the hosts are so neat to visit with. Brother Bigler has helped us a lot with our landscaping and he was telling Dallin about a good deal on a used fence he knew about!
Shakespeare really got busy in April with lots of long rehearsals, and I was asked to be the costume director. The director had already purchased quite a few costumes and the boys were mostly wearing their own suits. I was in charge of all of the little details in accessories and props and also in charge of keeping everything in order and together. It was a big job, but really fun!
Thanks to Chris skyping in and giving us a tutorial, we were able to finally build the new computer. It was a really neat project. I'm still (in June) trying to figure out how to use it! It has been nice, and all of the kids have enjoyed creating on minecraft. I love how they can make their imaginings come to life. Ruby is in heaven because she made a farm with horses she can actually ride and cats that follow her around everywhere.
One night when I knew I was going to be gone and Dallin was feeling a little under the weather, I suggested he take them to the movies. The Lego movie just happened to be playing at the cheap theater. They had a great time. Dallin was thinking he'd go on a campout with the boys, but the campout ended up being cancelled. Brandon was really glad because he was kinda burned out from all of his Shakespeare classes and campouts are not his favorite. He was thrilled that he got to go to a movie. When the kids announced he wasn't going camping and they were going to a movie instead, he thought it was a mean joke! They had a great time and so did I at a mom's planning meeting for next school year.
Monday, March 31, 2014
Fulfilled
Things I've studied and learned because I am a stay at home mom:
Organization
Time Management
Meal planning and organizing
Food storage and emergency preparedness
Food preservation
Natural Medicine, nutrition
Natural Childbirth
Gardening
Discipline, Parenting, Self Discipline
How to stay calm when emotions run high.
How to be cheerful on very little sleep for extended periods of time.
How to seek and receive inspiration about my family
Homeschooling, educating
History, Science, Classical music, art, and literature
How to let go and let kids learn
How to manage a large home
How to train my children to work and contribute to the home
How to manage the use of entertainment in our lives
How to be a better wife
How to appreciate the moments
How to be thankful in adversity
How to appreciate a person as-is
How to give when I don't think there's anything left to give
How to sacrifice the insignificant for the divine
How to help and love when someone is acting unloveable
How to lose myself and become really me
And every day is brimming with more opportunities to practice patience, learn something new, learn someone better, solve problems, manage something, grow.
I am so glad that I am blessed with this life of learning by love.
It is hard, but life is hard.
What a blessing to be able to learn so much and grow so much in such a joyful way!
I get to learn the lessons that prepare me for heaven surrounded by 7 angels.
People like to comment that I have my hands full.
Oh, yes! FULL!
Organization
Time Management
Meal planning and organizing
Food storage and emergency preparedness
Food preservation
Natural Medicine, nutrition
Natural Childbirth
Gardening
Discipline, Parenting, Self Discipline
How to stay calm when emotions run high.
How to be cheerful on very little sleep for extended periods of time.
How to seek and receive inspiration about my family
Homeschooling, educating
History, Science, Classical music, art, and literature
How to let go and let kids learn
How to manage a large home
How to train my children to work and contribute to the home
How to manage the use of entertainment in our lives
How to be a better wife
How to appreciate the moments
How to be thankful in adversity
How to appreciate a person as-is
How to give when I don't think there's anything left to give
How to sacrifice the insignificant for the divine
How to help and love when someone is acting unloveable
How to lose myself and become really me
And every day is brimming with more opportunities to practice patience, learn something new, learn someone better, solve problems, manage something, grow.
I am so glad that I am blessed with this life of learning by love.
It is hard, but life is hard.
What a blessing to be able to learn so much and grow so much in such a joyful way!
I get to learn the lessons that prepare me for heaven surrounded by 7 angels.
People like to comment that I have my hands full.
Oh, yes! FULL!
March Notes
March started out with another Speech and Debate tournament. I just love being able to go and be a judge and be with the kids! Ruby and her friend got to come along and help take care of their baby. It was really fun to be there with a friend. It was the first time I'd ever judged Student Congress. It was really fun! It kept me busy because I had to keep track of the action and make notes on 17 or 18 kids all at once. Some of them had really silly bills and others had really intelligent ones. The interesting thing was to see how they voted. Sometimes it was just to keep things moving, not because they really had the details of the bill worked out. Sounds a bit too familiar...
Brandon had a fun birthday. We celebrated part of it early because he had a campout that weekend. We had the traditional Bagel breakfast and had vegetable bagels for lunch instead. It was fun to share that lunch with the Jacob Meyers family who we were visiting with that day. Brandon has developed a really great friendship with Jared and Isaac's cousin Michael! It has been so fun to get to know their family better. That night we rewarded Nathan for finishing his Eagle project with a Vocal Point concert. It was very very enjoyable and fun! It was not very expensive compared to the globetrotters game, but way more fun! Dallin, Nathan, and Simon got up early to go to meet Brandon at the campout. They were at the Midway hot springs and had a great time. As soon as they got home, we were all excited to watch Brandon open the giant presents that had been sitting covered in the guest room for a couple of weeks! Inside were all of the components for a new computer for him to build so he could work on some graphic design stuff and FINALLY get his own minecraft account! I was excited to find Sour Patch gum because it combines two of Brandon's favorite things! Grandma got him the zipline set for his nanobugs, and it is so fun! Then we headed out for an early dinner at the Pizza Pie Café. It is a salad/pizza/pasta/dessert pizza buffet. It was pretty good food and fun for everyone. Plus we had a buy-one-get-one coupon for up to 4 uses that made it very affordable!
The next week I went to a class and came home with some herbal remedies that we made right there. Seems like stuff like that will become more and more of a blessing to know about and have as the healthcare goes farther and farther south.
For Sullivan's birthday, we unveiled a spring surprise for our kids: We bought two mini-tramps and some gymnastics pads for the racquetball court. So fun, and perfect for an activity for his birthday. We went to the Gem Show in Spanish Fork which is always a fun free activity. They give each of the kids a polished stone, and they can buy a variety bag of rocks and learn what each one is for $1. Sarajoy was so excited to bring her purse and get to buy things. She has just recently started earning money, and she loves it so much! Her purse is really big and she's so cute carrying it. After the Gem show, I wanted to get a couple of things for Sullivan, so we decided to get some "hangaburgers", which he was really excited about. I got him some fun balloons and pinwheels at the dollar store. He also got some really awesome motorcycles from Grandma that he loved and took everywhere. We got him a big nerf soccer ball and a nano goldfish that really swims in water. It is really cute! We had Trenaisa's family for dinner and she brought him the cutest Duplo Lego set that you can make several different vehicles with. It is the perfect addition to our other little sets like that. I love it when presents can make an old toy seem new again. After he ate his cake, he got to have a bath with his little fishy. So fun! He LOVED having a birthday. He had donuts for his cake. It wasn't until days later that I realized that all of the other kids got an elephant cake on their 2nd birthdays. Bummer.
Nathan did a presentation on his Eagle project for the Empty Nester's Family Home Evening group. He did a really good job. That weekend was a reunion dinner and slide show for the people who went to Mexico. It was great for me to meet some of the people they got to know so well. We had Milee join in on Skype, and it was really fun. I was surprised that she stuck with it for so long. I think they people all really enjoyed her and vice versa. I'm glad it worked out for her to go. I had fun taking the girls to the Women's Broadcast. We all went to Wendy's afterwards to use some coupons. Eating out is a pretty fun family activity. We had a lot of fun that night. I love how much fun and liveliness teenage boys bring to our family. For Dallin's birthday we went to the temple and we got him a large print of Agony in the Garden from the Sacred Gifts exhibit. It really is such a touching portrayal of that sacred event. We always have tacos and strawberry shortcake as well! I got him a new waffle iron, too.
Brandon had a fun birthday. We celebrated part of it early because he had a campout that weekend. We had the traditional Bagel breakfast and had vegetable bagels for lunch instead. It was fun to share that lunch with the Jacob Meyers family who we were visiting with that day. Brandon has developed a really great friendship with Jared and Isaac's cousin Michael! It has been so fun to get to know their family better. That night we rewarded Nathan for finishing his Eagle project with a Vocal Point concert. It was very very enjoyable and fun! It was not very expensive compared to the globetrotters game, but way more fun! Dallin, Nathan, and Simon got up early to go to meet Brandon at the campout. They were at the Midway hot springs and had a great time. As soon as they got home, we were all excited to watch Brandon open the giant presents that had been sitting covered in the guest room for a couple of weeks! Inside were all of the components for a new computer for him to build so he could work on some graphic design stuff and FINALLY get his own minecraft account! I was excited to find Sour Patch gum because it combines two of Brandon's favorite things! Grandma got him the zipline set for his nanobugs, and it is so fun! Then we headed out for an early dinner at the Pizza Pie Café. It is a salad/pizza/pasta/dessert pizza buffet. It was pretty good food and fun for everyone. Plus we had a buy-one-get-one coupon for up to 4 uses that made it very affordable!
The next week I went to a class and came home with some herbal remedies that we made right there. Seems like stuff like that will become more and more of a blessing to know about and have as the healthcare goes farther and farther south.
For Sullivan's birthday, we unveiled a spring surprise for our kids: We bought two mini-tramps and some gymnastics pads for the racquetball court. So fun, and perfect for an activity for his birthday. We went to the Gem Show in Spanish Fork which is always a fun free activity. They give each of the kids a polished stone, and they can buy a variety bag of rocks and learn what each one is for $1. Sarajoy was so excited to bring her purse and get to buy things. She has just recently started earning money, and she loves it so much! Her purse is really big and she's so cute carrying it. After the Gem show, I wanted to get a couple of things for Sullivan, so we decided to get some "hangaburgers", which he was really excited about. I got him some fun balloons and pinwheels at the dollar store. He also got some really awesome motorcycles from Grandma that he loved and took everywhere. We got him a big nerf soccer ball and a nano goldfish that really swims in water. It is really cute! We had Trenaisa's family for dinner and she brought him the cutest Duplo Lego set that you can make several different vehicles with. It is the perfect addition to our other little sets like that. I love it when presents can make an old toy seem new again. After he ate his cake, he got to have a bath with his little fishy. So fun! He LOVED having a birthday. He had donuts for his cake. It wasn't until days later that I realized that all of the other kids got an elephant cake on their 2nd birthdays. Bummer.
Nathan did a presentation on his Eagle project for the Empty Nester's Family Home Evening group. He did a really good job. That weekend was a reunion dinner and slide show for the people who went to Mexico. It was great for me to meet some of the people they got to know so well. We had Milee join in on Skype, and it was really fun. I was surprised that she stuck with it for so long. I think they people all really enjoyed her and vice versa. I'm glad it worked out for her to go. I had fun taking the girls to the Women's Broadcast. We all went to Wendy's afterwards to use some coupons. Eating out is a pretty fun family activity. We had a lot of fun that night. I love how much fun and liveliness teenage boys bring to our family. For Dallin's birthday we went to the temple and we got him a large print of Agony in the Garden from the Sacred Gifts exhibit. It really is such a touching portrayal of that sacred event. We always have tacos and strawberry shortcake as well! I got him a new waffle iron, too.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
Early Spring
Lovely weather came so early this year.
Flowers blooming.
Front Lawn growing in.
Birds and buds and bugs.
I was ready for a season of renewal.
Flowers blooming.
Front Lawn growing in.
Birds and buds and bugs.
I was ready for a season of renewal.
Friday, February 28, 2014
January and February Notes
January was all about trying to get back into the swing of things. It was really hard! I was just too tired from the hectic December to let myself jump back into a fast-paced routine. One of my favorite new habits is to get up in the morning for scriptures with Dallin and the big boys and go lie on the couch on my side. Soon Ruby's alarm would go off, and she'd come down all wrapped up in her blanket and cuddle down behind my legs in my "nest". It was sooo cozy and nice to start the day with cuddles and we'd drift in and out of sleep while listening to the scriptures in Spanish and English. Often the other kids would come for a cuddle or a story as we slowly started the morning. I'm tempted to say "not super productive", but I know it is just a different kind of productive. A lot of us had lingering sickness that was never really bad, but left us feeling tired and achy. The girls had a lot of earaches, sore throats, and swollen glands. I took Brandon to a Speech and Debate tournament at LDS Business College. He did really well. I really like that school. It has a nice feeling to it.
I don't know if I've mentioned this, but we started using our weekly character qualities chart that we got from the Duggars' website to give us a theme for each family evening. It has been great because it takes away the guesswork of "what are we doing for FHE?" as well as helping us dig a little deeper into the meaning and application of the virtues. Our co-op hosted a family dance. I was nervous about being mostly in charge of it. It turned out really great! We did a little math/science fair with our co-op just before the dance started. Brandon did a little demonstration on the "Dice of the Gods" which is a set of regular solids that fit inside one another. It was neat to see the symbolism and see how it crossed many cultures and religions. I thought it was amazing that when you have 2-dimensional objects, there are an almost infinite number of regular shapes (regular meaning all sides are equal), but when you add the third dimension, there are only 5 regular solids.
It February we still kept things slow. We focused on relationships instead of achievements. We spent time with friends that helped us know them and learn and grow from them. We've been involved with a Commonwealth this year. It is a sort of co-op that offers classes for homeschooled youth. Once a month they have a parent meeting. We have had some neat discussions about learning and liberty and about preparing our children to deal with persecution and about focusing our families on the Savior. It is so nice to feel supported and get ideas. I've really enjoyed going to them with Dallin. Dallin and the boys went to the Klondike derby this month. They were happy to have snow. They placed 2nd out of 50 troops, so not so bad! We love the Porter Valentine Party every year! Yahoo! I love doing the folk and ballroom dances. Thanks for putting up with a lot of Virginia Reel! I am always excited when every age can enjoy an activity like that. On the 21st was the Shakespeare Fair for Brandon's class. I was pleasantly surprised to see what a great turnout we had and what some of the fun activities were. We had dinner there and watched Brandon get "crowned King" the 2nd year in a row for reading/watching/ or listening to at least 17 unabridged Shakespeare plays. Brandon's math/science class phased out so we decided to have him take the 2nd semester of Key of Liberty because his teacher wasn't able to finish out the year last year. I sat in on the class a couple of times and was really impressed with the great stuff they were learning about the government and how much Heavenly Father loves liberty. We also had a fun Valentine party with our co-op. So far Sarajoy has used her box for 3 years and just adds a little to it each year. Simon made a cute Alligator box and handed his train valentine box down to Sullivan. Daisy updated the froggy that Ruby used last year. Brandon did his trash can with the pop-up lid from last year and Ruby made a really cute giraffe.
The last day of the month, we went on a group date with our friends from Spanish Fork to the BYU Museum of Art to see the sacred gifts exhibit. It was so nice to be able to go slowly and read the information and really enjoy the art. It was also great to catch up with our friends and have a nice dinner with them.
Friday, February 7, 2014
It Must Be February
Because I find myself thinking constantly about the people I love.
I feel a drive to seek out friends I haven't connected to in awhile.
Peoples names and faces interrupt my thoughts with a yearning to get back in touch.
My friends I see regularly seem to linger longer in conversations that have been wholesome and soul-nourishing.
Dallin got a love letter early, because I just couldn't wait until the 14th to say it all!
I find myself pulling big kids onto my lap or dancing around the kitchen with them.
I find myself stopping to look into little people's eyes, playing games, and listening with wonder at the still one-year-old baby's speech.
I find myself admiring people I don't know as well and just aching to get to know them better.
I am tempted to think I don't have time for all of these interruptions, playdates, conversations, and get-togethers.
Won't I get behind? (Seriously, when was the last time I was ahead?? )
No. I feel myself embracing this season of love.
Relationships are really what life is all about.
And spending time with people I love energizes me and nourishes me better than anything this planet has to offer.
And I'm so incredibly blessed to have so many people to love.
So much love, such a little month. February has charmed me like never before.
I feel a drive to seek out friends I haven't connected to in awhile.
Peoples names and faces interrupt my thoughts with a yearning to get back in touch.
My friends I see regularly seem to linger longer in conversations that have been wholesome and soul-nourishing.
Dallin got a love letter early, because I just couldn't wait until the 14th to say it all!
I find myself pulling big kids onto my lap or dancing around the kitchen with them.
I find myself stopping to look into little people's eyes, playing games, and listening with wonder at the still one-year-old baby's speech.
I find myself admiring people I don't know as well and just aching to get to know them better.
I am tempted to think I don't have time for all of these interruptions, playdates, conversations, and get-togethers.
Won't I get behind? (Seriously, when was the last time I was ahead?? )
No. I feel myself embracing this season of love.
Relationships are really what life is all about.
And spending time with people I love energizes me and nourishes me better than anything this planet has to offer.
And I'm so incredibly blessed to have so many people to love.
So much love, such a little month. February has charmed me like never before.
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