You're Killing Us, June

We did all the stuff in June and now we are dead.

The first Sunday in June we got to meet our newest cousin, Brennan, at his blessing in Salt Lake.

Awww! He is a carbon copy of his Dad, my brother Aaron. I know this because I held his Dad a lot. Aaron's head was a little more narrow, but they are so close! Aaron gave Brennan a beautiful blessing. As always, it was fun to be at church with family.

We brought Taylor with us just so Grandpa Bob could get in a photo with his oldest and youngest grandchild.

Daddy's funny and dimples are the best.

Our kids are so sweet with babies. As long as Bridget is the one holding Brennan, he is perfectly safe. ;)

The next day I went to Stake Girls' Camp at Heber Valley Camp. I haven't been to girls' camp since I was a girl. I went as a stake leader and stayed in a cabin with the other 12 stake leaders. We didn't have cell reception and minimal responsibilities for most of the day, so I had a chance to listen and talk to a lot of really amazing women. I led the second year girls on a hike the first day. Since I was the only one with a map they had to trust me. I'd never been on this hike and the old couple missionaries made it sound like a piece of cake, but it was pretty difficult. The girls had so much energy for it and they didn't even care if we were lost - they were just having fun. The leaders probably thought I was doing it wrong. :)

We started every day with a flag ceremony and every night we had skits and really fantastic devotionals. It was a feast! Oh, and we also had a feast every night. What am I saying? We ate well for ever meal. Luckily there was a lot of hiking and physical activity, too.

The girls from our ward were the best. I knew when I went to camp that I was getting called into the Young Women's presidency, so I tried to pay close attention to the girls who would be in my class. Most of the time, though, I just went where I was needed and tried to be useful.

I was trained on The Wall in the Challenge Course, but then I didn't end up doing that. I did get to go on the zip line (which was much scarier than it looked) and take some photos until a lady told me to move.

Beatrice, Annie, and Marissa - three of my favorite girls. I enjoyed every day so much. Once a day I would take a hike to the lake and talk to Brian. I couldn't do it at night because BEARS, so I didn't get to talk to the kids for four whole days. That was so much harder than I thought it would be. While I was at the lake I wrote each of them a long text message. On Thursday evening Brian came because he's in the bishopric. We stayed for dinner, testimony meeting with our ward, and dessert. Fun week, but kinda nice to get it out of the way. :)

We had two weeks of swimming lessons for Emil and Colin in June. I signed Nate up for the same weeks, so Grandma and Nate joined us for Jan Lamb's Swim School. Emil was in the Stingray class (the second level) and Nate and Colin were in Minnows for the first week.

Emil had improved his kick and his cannonball. He likes to name his jumps before he goes in and yell them from the side of the pool or the diving board before he goes. By the second week Colin was doing everything the Stingrays were doing, but the Stingray class was too big. I love that Colin was cool with that - he still swam hard and did everything his teachers asked and made several friends. I always forget how much time swimming lessons take even though the lesson is only an hour (for Colin they were half an hour for the first week). So much prep, drive time, all the stuff. I had a hard time keeping all the balls in the air that week. We had a church activity every night that week, Bridget was still doing track, and the boys still had T-ball games.

The third Sunday in June, after having a nice Father's Day at church, we went to Sand Hollow (near St. George) for Brian's family's yearly vacation. Every day we were there was a record-breaking heat day. Winners! Oh, man! It was HOT. We had Sunday dinner at Dena and Darin's place in Hurricane, then we went to our very cool, very fancy condo. Hooray for AC!

We spent two days at the beach at Sand Hollow. Dena reserved us a very shady spot with tables and the water was refreshing. The kids had a blast!

Bridget and Brighton

For some reason Emil had a hard time staying on this killer whale. Hmmm.

Colin threw the Frisbee around with Grandma for a while.

Bridget tried for two days to ride this pool noodle like a horse in the water.

Not often successful. :)

Brighton asked Brian a few times, very sweetly, if she could "drown" him. No, thanks?

He did steal her whale, so... It was his birthday, though! Nothing wrong with a 43 year-old man riding a blow-up killer whale.

Cousin Abby tried several times to do a headstand on her paddle board. I'm The World's Best Headstander, so I gave it a try.

I stayed up until Brian assured me he had photos, but really, I could have stayed like that for a lot longer. ;) So funny to hear my kids warning me how hard it was and to be careful. 

There's Brighton purposely trying to tip Emil into the water. Carry on, Brighton

Grandpa went to his 60 year class reunion a few weeks ago and got this awesome shirt. 

Emil correctly doesn't trust Kalvin in this situation.

Colin pretending to be chased by a killer whale.

The view from our condo was sweet. We saw all kinds of rabbits invading the golf course once the sun went down. The kids played in the pool until after bedtime because it was still 100 degrees outside and what else do you do when it's that hot?!

The pool! After swimming all day in a reservoir, what could be better?

Emil woke up early one morning and Grandma did his bidding and let him choose a show until everyone else was up. Lucky!

Brighton and Colin relaxing on the deck.

Emil would have loved to ride in the side-by-side all day, but it was TOO HOT and it kept getting stuck. They discovered that Grandpa's four-wheeler didn't get stuck and had fun riding around in that for as long as they could stand it.

Unfortunately, there was a parasite in the water where we were and almost everyone ended up with itchy bumps where their skin was exposed. Poor Nate got the worst of it. So sad! Colin had a rash all over his body, but Benedryl took care of it after a couple of days. Otherwise it was a perfect little vacation. One of the nights I stayed up watching a show on the Food Network with Emil. I hardly ever get one-on-one time with either of the boys and getting it only makes me want more. I love how fun my kids are - they mostly have a great attitude about whatever we're doing and they make the most and the best of it.

We came home to the last three days of Lehi's Round-Up Week. The kids and I went to Lehi's Animals Got Talent, which was awesome, but made the kids want a dog even more. Thursday night we took the kids to their first rodeo (I think we took Bridget when she was a baby, but it doesn't count). We didn't know what The Deal was with the rodeo burger and didn't think we could wait until 8:00 (when the rodeo started) or later to feed the kids, so we ate out at Culver's first. The boys were riveted by the rodeo events. Bridget put her hands in front of her eyes because she didn't want to see anyone get hurt. I'm somewhere in between. It's a pretty primal show.

On Friday night Brian and I were signed up to help our ward with concessions at the North Shack at the rodeo. I did a story for the paper about the volunteer army that it takes to put on the rodeo, so my appreciation for this undertaking and the purpose of it has grown 100%. Brian fried burgers and I assembled them for four hours straight, and yet it was super fun working with neighbors and serving the neighbors who came to get a burger. Also, now we know the secret of the rodeo burger. Priceless.

I got my fancy Mother's Day apron all gross with sauce. This is inside the concession shack.

Brian frying up burgers. Same thing he does every day, Pinky.

Sometime on Friday my boss Sally asked if I could ride on the Lehi Free Press "float" in the parade. They had a 1957 Chevy truck pulling a flatbed trailer with a rock band on it playing "Footloose" and "Devil Came Down to Georgia." I hurried and found "Newsies" hats for the kids and we sat in the bed of the truck and threw candy. It is so much more fun to be IN the parade! The parade goes down four streets and the kids threw so much candy that it was gone after the second street. 

That's Colin throwing ALL the candy. We had a blast.

Sunday, June 25th was Bridget's 11th birthday! It seems like it would be a bummer to have your 11th birthday on a Sunday, BUT when you have a summer birthday it just means that a bunch of people you wouldn't see on a weekday get to tell you happy birthday. We made her wait until after church to open presents so that Daddy could be there.

She wore dangle-y earrings for the first time.

 Daddy gave her new ski poles. And they match her dress! Bonus. (The kitchen is a mess because I was making a Dr. Seuss caramel cake.)

I got Bridget an American Girl doll - Felicity. She's from 1774 and her story goes along with the Revolutionary War. Bridget immediately dressed Felicity in modern clothes. Hahahahaha!

Grandma made us dinner and we brought the sad (but delicious) cake and the sadder birthday candles. We're never prepared with candles! It was a nice, relaxing little party. Perfect for 11 year-old Bridget.

Two days later Brian backpacked into the High Uintas for a week-long scout trip. We didn't hear from him the whole time! The boys had their second week of swimming lessons while he was gone and I frantically completed my assignments for my family's reunion that started just hours after Brian got home. Whew! Next year we'll plan more carefully, don't you think Drusilla?

December is Our Favorite

We've made so many lovely memories this December and they will all be forgotten if I don't write some of it down.

On December 1, we all went to the Festival of Trees where the kids sang in the elementary choir and I directed the choir. There are about 120 kids in choir. The morning of December 1st we had our first practice with everyone together (the senior choir sang three songs, the junior choir sang three songs, and they all sang one song together). My hands hurt for the rest of that day because I clapped "Shave and a Haircut" so many times trying to get their attention. We passed out the new music T-shirt at that rehearsal, too. The last time I sweat that much was during a hot yoga workout. Kids be crazy, y'all.

We got to the South Town Expo Center in plenty of time, but I had no idea where to go because we were on the South Stage and we've only ever been on the North Stage. The adult volunteers hurried to get a bow tie on all the kids (except for the girl who wore the sparkly red dress - for the love) and then we led a line of 120 kids through the back stage area to sit next to the big stage. Depending on where you were standing in the audience, they sounded great or strange. Ha! It was a blast to see the kids waving at their parents and especially to see my own kids singing. Bridget was half of the duet accompaniment for one of the junior choir songs, "Fum, Fum, Fum." She messed up a little bit and she was a bundle of tears afterward. Poor thing! It was a big stage and a big audience and no one noticed because there were so many crazy kids dancing and acting weird, but she took it pretty hard. I have no photos of this event because I was already doing a job. ;)

The first Saturday in December we went to This Is the Place Monument Park for their authentic German Christmas Market. We thought we'd spend an hour or so, but it was so fun and amazing that we were there most of the day. Brian went to a Christmas Market in Germany three or four years ago and he said it was very similar. We visited a petting zoo, shopped at the cute little booths, ate bratwurst and sauerkraut, went on a train ride, and bought Daddy a cool hat. It was magical. (And Brian and the kids saw President Uchtdorf and his wife all dressed up in traditional German clothes for the parade.)

I would totally do this one again. Next time maybe we should go on Thursday or Friday instead of the busiest time on Saturday. Other than the crowd, it was wonderful.

A sampling of the 120 kids in choir.

The choirs performed for an assembly on Monday the 5th and then at an evening concert on Thursday the 8th. I will be losing my voice (and my mind) trying to keep all those kids quiet in Mrs. Jones's room while we wait to go on. The senior choir always went first at the performances and I had them do Pat-a-pan for the first number every time. It's a tricky song and too hard for them, so I have to pay close attention to the music and bringing them in at the right times. At the last two pages of the song, I flipped my page over to see that they were missing and the song just kind of ended because no one knew what to do. Fail. But! The final number, Once Upon a December, was a huge hit. The kids did dynamics without me prompting them (I got to the point where I was happy if they were singing words at the same time) and we had the Chime Choir do a beautiful solo in the middle of the song. It was everyone's favorite.

Next, the boys were invited to Pierce's house to make gingerbread houses. For some reason, that's been Emil's dream for a few months. With all the stuff going on, I couldn't wrap my brain around making gingerbread houses, so Pierce's mom, Janeen, kinda saved my life. All of Emil and Colin's kindergarten friends were there and Janeen had the gingerbread (graham cracker) houses all ready, the icing in mini Zip-lock bags, and the candy in bowls. What?! A Christmas Miracle for sure.

After doing the houses and playing frantically, all the kids went to the same bus stop to wait for the bus.

Here's Colin flirting with Lydia.

We celebrated St. Lucia Day on the 13th by having Swedish meatballs, molasses cookies, lots of candlelight and Bridget dressed in white with a red sash. There was a lot happening that night, Brian had meetings and it was the night of our neighborhood party. For the neighborhood party this year we donated stuffed toys to Project Teddy Bear through Bank of American Fork. I did a story on it for the paper, so I got to take a fun picture of neighborhood kids.

Back row: Cooper, Henry, Jace, Ryder, Aleah, JD (TJ?), Jackson. Middle row: Flossy, Bridget, Millie, Natalie, Freddy, Quinn. Front row: Archer, Isaak, Emil, Jett, and Colin. And this is only from six families in our neighborhood! So many kids. 

The boys had their first ski lesson on the 16th, the day of a huge blizzard. We let them skip school and Brian took them to Park City with Bridget. From 9:00AM until about 1:00PM, Bridget and Brian skied and the boys were learning how to ski. Then they had to close everything down because the blizzard was awful.

On Saturday the 17th, we had our Christmas party with Brian's side of the family. 

It was a pretty sunset and I thought I'd get a shot of Grandma and Grandpa's house as it looks in December before it got too dark.

Of course we had the fishing pond right after dinner. There's Nate with a triumphant catch.

Emil loves fishing in all forms.

Brighton and I bonded when I went to pick her up earlier in the day. She'd been in the van with me for several minutes when she asked sweetly, "Do I know you?" :)

This is fun for me. Grandpa, Brian, and Hal fixing the hook. Grandpa set up the blue blanket this year for the fishing pond. Much more realistic.

Aunt Dena told the kids a story about the candy cane. I loved the sight of Emil's toes here, so I had to get a picture.

Denise is snuggling her great granddaughter, Olivia. (Olivia is a Good Baby.)

Bridget and Abby.

Grandma and Grandpa opened their present from their kids. New phones!

We celebrated December birthdays with cake and the Birthday Song. I stole this off my Instagram account because I was having an Exceptional Hair Day and this is the only proof.

Santa came and Colin was Jonny-on-the-spot going to sit on his lap and ask him for Pokemon cards and Power Ranger Legos (they do not exist).

Emil asked for a wagon and a drone. (He looks green because Colin is sitting out of the frame with his new green mini light saber from Santa.)

Bridget wins at Christmas every year because she is SPECIFIC about what she wants, she doesn't change her mind and she asks for things that exist. Who knew that was so hard?! She asked for a skateboard and a pink ukulele.

It seems like there were more of them. Perhaps it's the four little boys being super loud? Maybe.

On Monday the 19th we celebrated the boys 6th birthday! The Sunday before was rough for me. I stood behind the island counter in our kitchen and made food, served food, cleaned up food, refereed fights, answered the same questions every five minutes, then lost my mind. Monday was a new day and I decided to be Yes Mom no matter what happened. The boys asked to go to the Natural Curiosity Museum and I said, "YES." They were so happy. In the van on the way over Colin said, "Mom! Let's only do fun stuff today!" So we did. :) I arranged with both of their teachers to read a book to the combined classes (I read Snowflake Bentley) and I brought fruit roll-ups for all the kids. I'm their teachers' favorite now because I brought an easy snack. Brian came home a little early and the boys opened presents.

Colin got Emil a mini Pac-Man game. I'd taken 1000 trips to Teton Toys over the last few weeks, each time with a different kid or by myself. When I went with Colin to buy for Emil's birthday and Christmas he spent a lot of time looking at Pokemon stuff that Emil is just kinda interested in, unlike Colin. When we found this Pac-Man game, Colin knew he had a winner. "I hope he shares," Colin said on the way out. Ha! Colin also tried to buy Emil "homework." When I showed him stuff I knew Emil liked, Colin checked the price tag and exclaimed, "$12.99?! No way." 

The coveted Pokemon cards. They're for the floor, it turns out.

And there's Emil hoping Colin will share.

The boys requested Pizza Pie Cafe for dinner and we got there long before the rush, so all the running around wasn't bothering too many people. After dinner we came home and got bundled up for Luminaria at Thanksgiving Point. They stopped doing the drive-through lights and created this walking tour of lights in Ashton Gardens to take the place of the drive-through. It was amazing. We saw the luminaries filling the big green first and that was pretty spectacular, but then we walked through the Peppermint Forest or something and there were red and white lights shaped like candy canes. Brian and I looked at each other at the same time and asked, "Do you smell peppermint?" That's when it became amazing! We all got tired and it was cold, but no one broke down or cried (unlike many young kids we saw). Success!

On the 21st, my 43rd birthday, I didn't plan anything big. I went to the Provo City Center Temple with Brian to do sealings after dropping the boys off at the bus stop. That's always nice - we do it all the time, so I know how long it's going to take and where to go now. Brian had to get back to work, so I ate lunch by myself (my secret favorite thing to do) and went to Pioneer Book on Center Street in Provo. They had this tree on display and I thought it made my day:

Yes! I browsed for a little while and bought a couple of pretty, hard-bound classics. When I got to the register the guy told me I had a $10 credit for being a frequent customer and my total came to $2. Happy birthday to ME. I opened presents from the kids when I got home (socks from Colin, water bottle from Emil, a scarf from Bridget) with Brian listening on the phone. (Brian got me new couches for the front room. I've been researching it for months, so I hope it turns out. They'll be here tomorrow!) I went to get my hair cut and my stylist (what DO you call them?) was 40 minutes late so she wouldn't let me pay her for the haircut. What she doesn't know is that I'm fine sitting by myself and reading without being interrupted for 40 minutes so she gave me two presents for my birthday. ;) 

I'm thinking Christmas Day needs a separate post. Whew! My fingers are tired from typing.