December blur

I thought November went by fast, but December seems to be in hot pursuit of the world record for time flying by.  We blink, and a week goes by.  We sleep a night, and it's a new month.  That's really what it feels like sometimes, like time is just flying by.

December so far has been full of band concerts and assemblies, preschool Christmas programs, parties, cub scouts, basketball practices and games, Utah ball games.  If we are lucky, there has been one night a week this month where we haven't had something going on, and that's the night ALL the homework gets done for the week.



This month is always hard for me.  I miss my grandmothers terribly.    Even though my Grandma P. has been gone for eight years, and my Grandma Huber for almost 6, it really feels like it was just yesterday that they were supervising breakfasts and feasts and presents and parties.  It seems that in these years since their bodies left us behind that though their spirits are still with us, the hole just feels too big sometimes.  Their magic is missing.  We move on, we celebrate their lives, we talk about them daily, but it feels especially during this month, that the gap between us and them is too large.

On Monday I got a text from a neighbor who grew up in Magna with my family.  Sherry (Belliston) Larson.  She lives in my neighborhood now,  but her mom, Judy Belliston, and my grandma were, I'm pretty sure, forces to be reckoned with back in the day.  Sherry sent me a picture of my grandma from an old Cyprus High School yearbook.  I'm sure it was a PTA meeting, but there was my grandma, smiling at me on Monday morning when I got up.

It's funny how these kind of things make me feel.  I felt that it was a much needed blessing...dare I say my Grandma willed such a thing to happen from her seat up in heaven.  She knew that I needed to to know that she was watching and looking out for me.  But, it is such a bittersweet thing, to be reminded so lovingly of someone you miss so terribly.  I wrote on an instagram post earlier in the week that this week before Christmas is hard for me - it's the week I'd be wrapping her presents, running her errands, and laughing with her at the kitchen table.  Man, I miss those times, but am so lucky that I have them locked away in my memory.  Her, sitting at the table with her yellow notebook of lists, throwing presents into piles, losing gifts in the office, arguing with Haley and me about whether or not she gave that exact same thing to that son-in-law the year before.  We'd have lunch, drink diet cokes, and wrap presents until we just couldn't stand it anymore.

I've been crying off and on all week.  I guess I could blame it on not feeling well.  I do have a sort throat and a stuffy nose.  But instead, I'll blame it on memories of Christmases past, and even though it's a hard time of year, the joys of Christmas present and future.

time passes quickly, doesn't it?

It's been over a month since my last blog post.  Funny isn't it how time just marches forward, whether we pause to document it or not.  It's nearly Christmas however, and the end of the year and I probably don't want the final blog post of 2016 to be me whining about, what is proving to be, a really horrible election outcome.

Anyway, November.

November went by so quickly.  The boys were off-track for three weeks, even though Quinn still had school three days a week.  The month was eventful and uneventful all at the same time, if that even makes sense.  We had our fair share of ups and downs in such a short four week period.  We also had a really rough 11 days or so, right in the middle of the month where chaos reigned supreme.

In an 11 day stretch of November the following things happened.

*Ross parents returned from the 18 month mission to Africa to our home.  They stayed for 8 days.

*Wyatt broke his toe and had ear infections resulting in a late night Insta-Care visit and some antibiotics.

*We went bowling.

*We hosted a small Thanksgiving with a standing rib roast that Ross prepared and a smoked turkey, we bought from a bar-be-que joint.  The food was delicious and my parents and Willie came by later in the evening for dessert.

*I sewed my heart out for a holiday market in, Holladay, right after Thanksgiving.  Set-up, volunteer in a blizzard and take-down all in a three day span.

*In 11 days, we attended, in some combination of family members, three or four Utah basketball games.

*We got a flat tire on our way to a cousin's baptism.  Luckily, my dad and Willie were close by and they came to help with the tire and take the boys with them to the baptism.  Ross and I headed to Costco to try and get the tire fixed, but because the tire shop was booked up for the rest of the weekend, we had to wait until Monday to repair the tire.  That meant we got a teeny tiny rental car from the airport that, I hit my head on the hood every time I got into it for a couple of days.

*The same day as the flat tire (the Saturday after Thanksgiving) I had a rough day.  Any combination of factors could have caused it, but I had climbing blood sugar all day long and finally, around 5:30 or 6:00 pm that evening, Ross took me to the emergency room because my blood sugar had spiked to 546 (normal is 120).  I cannot say I remember a lot except that I was cold (probably because of the IV), my speech was so slurred that I couldn't talk, and my body was heavy as a rock.  After a few hours of fluids and insulin, a blessing from my Dad, Willie and Ross, I was released to go home.  The next day, Sunday, I felt miserable, like someone had kicked me 50 times in the back.  I couldn't stand up straight or concentrate, and my speech was still slurred for most of the day.  It was a pretty pathetic experience.

*We purchased nine sub-for-santa gifts and helped out a sister missionary at the MTC from Madagascar.

*Quinn stopped sleeping and went completely insane....after a few nights of feeling like we had a hysterical newborn, Ross took him to the doctor, and he too had ear infections and a sore throat like Wyatt the week before.

*I volunteered with a neighbor to clean the temple in the middle of the night.

*I sewed and sewed and sewed for another Christmas show in Provo.

*We got out and set-up all our Christmas decorations.

*Play dates with friends were arranged.

*Off-track was survived (barely)

*Went back to school and had a band assembly.

*Driving to IKEA on Bangerter, a rock found it's way into my windshield.

*Saw Jim Gaffigan at the Delta Center.

It was a lot for a small 11 day stretch.  Ross and I were so tired and worn out from all the commotion, extra people, illness and food preparation and consumption that I still don't think we've recovered.  I made this list on Instagram a few weeks ago and my mom commented that I should look at it not as everything that happened, but as "holy cow, look how much life you still accomplished in spite of all the drama."  She is right.  Even though everything fell apart for eleven days, we still managed to get all our things done.  Our house was clean, our children happy, everyone was fed and watered.

I guess rather than a list of stress, in hind sight, I can look at it as a list of productivity.  Even under pressure, we can get stuff done.  And that, that's a pretty good feeling.

Pionner Day

Sunday, July 24th was Pioneer Day in the numerical and historical sense, but Monday, the 25th of July was Pioneer Day, observed by the state of Utah.

Side Note:  I've never heard it called, "Pie and Beer" day, but a bunch of people in my instagram feed called it that - ha.

To celebrate our pioneer heritage, all who were available to participate loaded in Grandma Judy's covered wagon (the family truckster) and ventured out on a hike in some dirt.  The boys and I (Ross had to work), joined Grandma, Grandpa and Uncle Willie (The Bings had other adventures planned) and we headed up Big Cottonwood Canyon to do the Doughnut Falls hike (with a good portion of the rest of Utah).




It was cooler up the canyon, we had three camel back water containers a backpack full of snacks and a 3 year old who we weren't really sure was going to walk.  But guess what!  We all made it, even grandmama and that little lazy fart that is my third child, known as Quinn, did the whole hike, round trip, without quitting or whining.  In fact, he ate an entire sleeve of ritz crackers for the duration of the mile to the falls and just held my hand and told me that he was so tired, he was "losing all his lives" on the way back.  He even crossed the water to get closer to the falls.  Proud of him I was.

All would have been excellent except I walked into a tree on the way back down the trail and smacked the top of my head really hard.  (Two days later it still hurts, FYI).  {Insert your, "hey Grace, how's charm school?" insult here.}

Wyatt, my mom, Quinn and I left the three daredevils to their own devices and they were a little over half an hour behind us coming back down the trail.  Why do you ask?  Because they decided to be Mountain Goats and climb over the falls, over the mountain, and then had to find their way back down.  But, no injuries or deaths occurred.  Phew!






After the hike, rehydrating and chewing a TON of bubble gum (not me) we were headed to lunch at Hires.  And though the food was good, the AC was broken and the building was roasting.  It was bad news.  But, the heat of the building made it a perfect excuse to jump in Great Grandpa's swimming pool  before it was time to head back home.








It's also worth noting, that on this day of Pioneer observance, all of our cell phones were dead.  My mom's had been dead for days.  Willie was at 15%.  Mine mysteriously died (to be revived later at the phone store) on the way up the canyon.  All we had to rely on for the day for service, pictures, and replying to the 1 million texts from Haley, who wasn't with us, was Boompa's trusty phone.  It served us well, and he actually left it on the whole time!

Phew!
If i'd have been a Pioneer, I would have died.

Easter and other things....

Last weekend, Easter weekend, we celebrated a little differently.

No egg hunts or dyeing.  No fancy outfits.

Uncle Willie came to help move some furniture, and for dinner, and to build Lego Mixels.

We got ready for church early enough to take a few selfie's with Elliott's selfie stick.  Everyone wore something new, which is a first.

We enjoyed a delicious Easter dinner at my mom's and viewed some of Willie's pictures from the first area of his mission.

It was a good weekend.

The end of the year..

It seems that every single December sneaks up on me.  Here we are, just plugging along, living life, going on adventures, experiencing the seasons and then BLAMO!  It's Christmas!

Christmas completely and utterly stresses me out.  I have panic attacks and cry.  I miss my grandma's and strive to find their presence in all that I do, just to know, that they know, I'm trying.

The actual day of Christmas is a blur.  It is never as stressful as I think it's going to be and I do manage to find joy in watching my children's overwhelming excitement for all things wrapped (and not) in flimsy holiday paper.  We rush and rush and rush and then it all just comes crashing down.

Christmas should be the end of the year.  We should wake up the next day and ring in the new year all at once.  These days between December 25 and January 1 are just a jumble of sugar and chaos and trying to figure out what to do with ourselves every single day.

Today though, is my super cool brother's birthday.  He is 21 today.  Holy cow.  To celebrate, we are all going bowling (the Bing-Bings, the parental units and my family of 5), and eating lots of french fries, which is a pretty good way to celebrate the birthday of the one we love when he isn't here.  Because, if he was here, we'd probably be doing the same thing.

I'm excited for what the new year holds, what it will bring, and the adventures we will take both near and far.  I'm excited for my children to continue to grow and learn and be the great kids that they are.  I'm excited to get out of my 13th year of marriage and move on to the 14th, because the 13th has been a little stressful, to tell you the truth.  I'm excited to take more pictures, have new experiences, and maybe even go on an actual "date" or two with my husband, sans children.  I heard those things exist, but haven't been on one in so long I'm not sure I remember what to do.

All that being said, here is a quick slide show tribute to our 2015, may it rest in peace.  It seems that every year, my boys and I adopt a song.  One that's easy on the ears and can be wildly danced to in the kitchen (or the car, or anywhere else for that matter.)  Walk the Moon's, "Shut Up and Dance" seemed to fit the bill this year - and is probably one of the first songs we will have that Uncle of ours listen to as part of his missionary de-programming in two short months.

Happy New Year.  Bring on 2016.

Merry Christmas

It was completely out of character for me, but I only took about 10 pictures yesterday.  I was tired and there was a lot going on.

But, we had a wonderful Christmas.  The boys seemed to get everything on their wish lists and then some.  We received inches and inches of snow,  We skyped with our best brother and uncle for about an hour and Jack called Quinn his husband.  It was a good day and when it was finally over we all crashed hard.

Unfortunately, Quinn's crashing somehow, mysteriously got him into my bed.  At 2:30, I had suffered enough blows and decided to try and sleep the rest of the night in his hobbit bed.

Let's get this new year started, shall we?

Happenings...

It's just a few days before Christmas...9, if you don't count today, right?

I was talking to Ross on the phone this afternoon whining a bit.  It seems that all my time, our time, in the last couple weeks has been pulled away from us into different directions.  Church callings, basketball practice and coaching, Christmas concerts, Sub-for-Santa, traveling for work, holiday markets, frantic sewing for shows, frantic sewing of custom orders, shoveling snow and snow blowing all the neighbors driveways and sidewalks...it really feels a little overwhelming.

There are people in this world who need help.  There are members of my family who need prayers.  There are so many NEEDS in this world that it's impossible to think of them all, or to help all those that need it.  I try hard to spend as much time as I can serving others, in big ways and small.  I try to do something everyday that will benefit another person, even if on most days, I don't make it past the other four people in my home.

And guess what.

I'm really tired.

And I have a lot to do in the next nine days.

I hope I can get it all done.

I find January and February, like most people, to be pretty depressing.  It's cold and dreary, the air is bad, lots of people get sick and pass away (our stake president a few weeks ago called winter the "season of dying" and as morbid as that sounds, he's right), as a parent, it takes me a long time to recover from the excitement and let down of the holidays.

But, there are a lot of good things too.

Our neighborhood provided Christmas for 7 families who would otherwise have nothing.  My oldest son performed amazingly well on the trombone in three holiday concerts, and my niece and nephew did well in their program, too.  My boys are great basketball players and very helpful, kind, nice boys which I think that their dad and I take for granted every once in a while.  We are lucky to go on adventures, have the resources to help other people, and spend a lot of time with the people we love.  Last week, the boys were on the trampoline in hoodies and this week, they are bundled up in their warmest gear to play in the snow.

And we get to talk to our Uncle Willie next week.  You just cannot beat that.

Another Halloween Bites the Dust!

It's come and gone, again.  All it's excitement, pent up energy, emotional explosion is over.  Now we're just left with a lot of candy that they really won't ever eat (I'll throw it away in a week), and the countdown to Christmas.

Friday was the annual Halloween parade at school.  I must officially be old because there were so many costumes, particularly girl costumes, that I just had no idea who the kiddos were channeling.  Boys are easy, they are either something gory, a super hero, or a ninja.  For the most part anyway.  Girls are tricky and just confusing.  If a little girl isn't a Disney princess or some kind of witch, I was pretty much lost.

Oh well.

From the moment we started talking about Halloween costumes, Elliott knew what he wanted to be.  Elliott was a nerd.  Yes, he didn't have to try that hard, but he put his whole costume together all on his own.   All I had to do was buy him some "expanders" (suspenders) and help him with his hair.  He pulled it off quite well.




At first, Wyatt wanted to be a butler.  Yes, a butler.  Not knowing what a butler actually is, we talked about being a waiter.  Deciding that he didn't want to carry a tray around as part of his costume, we were stumped.  I decided that he should be "where's waldo".  It took some convincing, but the fact that I would buy him a costume (and I wasn't buying Elliott one), sold him on the idea.  He was the cutest Waldo there every was and was the hit of trick-or-treating on Saturday night.




And then, there was Quinn.  He announced early on that he was going to be a tiger.  Only problem was, he refused to wear a costume.  We already had two monkey suits and a penguin costume at home, waiting to be worn.  His old yoda costume still fit him (barley), but he wasn't having any of that.  So, it became imperative that we figure out how to let him be a tiger without actually wearing a costume.  Thanks to amazon, we made it work.  One ugly tiger t-shirt and some tiger gloves later and the kid was set.  Add some blue whiskers on his face and he was ready....to sit home with me because Halloween is spooky.




My boys were terribly anxious to get out and hit the neighborhood, but as usual, they were done sooner than not and had as much fun sitting at home and passing out candy as they did knocking doors to get it.

Until next year, Halloween.  Until next year.

July, so far...

July.  It's here.  The boys finished school on July 1 and 2, respectively and we are ready for summer.  So far, we've managed to get a lot of activities in.

We've bought Quinn a new bed.  He gets out of his a crib a lot and he is almost three.  So, we bought him a new bed.  Now, we just need to set it up.





We've been swimming a lot at great grandpas house and started swimming lessons this week at the Kearns Rec Center Pool.  Elliott is in "whale" and nearly finished with the whole swimming lesson program.  Wyatt is a "crab" for the third time.  He's hopefully finally going to pass it off because I've told him that he must take swimming lessons UNTIL he can pass crab, and then we can talk about it. Quinn isn't old enough to start "fwimming lessons" yet, but as soon as the boys are back in school, I'm going to sign him up for a mom and "baby" swimming class.





On the last day of school, because it was the last day of school and the boys had great report cards, I took them to lunch.  We went to the training table because I wanted a Hawaiian burger and some delicious fries.  The boys were brats before the food came, but luckily settled down when the food arrived.  That was, until, I had to take Quinn in the bathroom to change his diaper.  I came back three minutes later to a complete and total fist fight on the bench.  Wyatt was swinging at Elliott and Elliott way laying on the bench choking Wyatt.  It was awesome.  People were staring.  I was flaming mad, just like Anger in "Inside Out".  I drug the boys outside and yelled them into a wall.  I yelled some more on the way home.  Then, they both spent about an hour (Wyatt a little more because he wouldn't stop screaming) in "sit in the middle of the floor and don't touch anything" timeout.

By the time I cooled down, I'd had it.  It had been a rough week and a rough day.  I texted Ross that I was done with the boys and that when he got home from work, I was leaving and maybe I would come back.




After much internal debate about how lame I thought it might be, when Ross did get home I took myself on a date.  I washed my face and reapplied my make-up.  I combed my hair.  I put on a nice clean outfit and I left.  I took myself to a movie, one that wasn't crowded.  I sat in a corner by myself eating my popcorn and laughing so hard I cried.  Then, I walked to Target from my car and got a few things, getting my exercise for the night as well.

It wasn't lame to go to a movie by myself.  I would definitely consider doing it again.  I had a great time.  I'm a great date.






Our first full day of summer last week on July 3 kept us pretty busy.  We got up in the morning and headed to Haley's.  We played for a while, until it was time to meet dad at his new office and go to lunch.  Then, we headed to Great Grandpa's to swim the afternoon away.  The boys swam for hours.  I floated for hours.  Fun was had by all.  And, the best part?  Everyone fell asleep on our way home.  With three kiddos of such different ages, this doesn't happen much anymore.  It was a small miracle, especially considering the day before I was ready to divorce them all.







On July 4th, we broke with all tradition and created one of our own.  All of us, minus James and Willie, went to a movie.  We saw, "Inside Out."  It was delightful and entertaining and fun.  Elliott and Quinn devoured a family size popcorn.

After the movie we came home and spent the afternoon just hanging out.  Oh, and we lost Quinn.  Long story short, he thought he was playing hide and seek with the boys outside, and decided to, without anyone knowing, hide in the car!  On a 100 degree day!!  We found him, but he'd been in the car about 20 minutes and was covered head to toe in sweat, like he'd just gotten out of the bathtub.  Once he drank about 30 ounces of water and stopped crying, he told us that he was hiding from the boys and couldn't open the door to get out of the car, and we couldn't hear him screaming.  It was terrifying.  It won't happen again.





That afternoon, we headed out to my grandpas to swim and eat dinner with him.  The kids swam with cousins and we had a great bbq with my grandpa.  That evening, with a slight drizzle of rain, we set of fireworks and for the first 4th of July in many years, Wyatt did not throw up.

Winner winner chicken dinner.



And finally, I love my brother and miss him lots.  He celebrated too, just in a different country.

The Redwoods, Day Three: Lady Bird

Day Three of our adventuring got off to a slow and rough start.  You know how sometimes on vacation, you just can't seem to get going?  Well, that was today.  Lots of in and out of the car.  Lots of fighting boys.  Lots of wrong roads.





We started our morning with a visit to Humbolt University in Arcata.  We wanted to find the bookstore to look for a souvenir.  We finally found the bookstore, but not without some 8 and under bruised knees and egos.  Like I said, it was a rough morning.  The bookstore however, was a little on the lame side so we left with nothing more that two key chains.  One of which we had to buy because Quinn declared it his and ripped off the price tag.

Next stop was a gas station for a drink - from a soda fountain that didn't work - and a bathroom break - from a dirty bathroom that you had to get the key and make a purchase - but the soda fountain didn't work.  The boys got a drink so we could pee.  Then, it was a few miles up the road to Trinidad to see a lighthouse, that wasn't nearly as impressive as I thought it would be.  A light house that is on land, and no longer out on the rocks generally isn't that impressive.  Nor are the "tide pools" that aren't actually tide pools but just the jagged rocks that you can see when low tide is out.  We did though, eat at the lighthouse grill in Trinidad and they had great garlic fries.





We suffered from some severe bathroom problems on our trip.  These bathroom problems required a lot of stopping - preventative and necessary.  We ate lunch at noon, but felt like we'd already stopped a thousand times to use the bathroom.

Finally, we were on our way after what felt like a wasted morning.  I have to admit I was getting a little nervous that the trip was going downhill, and I wanted it to be spectacular.  Little did I know that Lady Bird Johnson had something spectacular in store for me.

In the 1960's LBJ's wife worked with then Governor Ronald Reagan to save the redwoods.  Because of her apparently valiant efforts, they preserved a whole grove of trees (hundreds of acres) in her name and made a one mile scenic walking loop through the grove.  Here you can walk and touch and gaze and these giant trees.  It's not a drive by like the Drury road the day before, but it's up close and personal.  Like if you could touch the gorilla at the zoo instead of just looking at him through very thick glass.  I have absolutely no words for the trees.  I realized that I love trees more than I ever had any idea and I was pretty sure, walking through this grove, that at least for me, this is what heaven looks like.  It was just spectacular, amazing, delightful.  There aren't enough adjectives to describe the beauty that exists in this forest.  I'd just never seen anything like it in my entire life.  At one point, our little family got separated and I seriously thought for a moment that maybe Ross and Quinn had been swept away by a forest inhabitant.









I told Willie in my weekly e-mail that I'm certain these forests are inhabited by fairies and gnomes, pixies and trolls and the like.  He replied and told me that after living in Lithuania for the past year, and experiencing some of it's forests, he too believes that mythical creatures exist, and that they are just much smarter than the people who are looking for them.  After visiting the redwoods, it has definitely got to be true.









We left Lady Bird and decided that it would be fun to drive through down town Eureka and spend the late afternoon, before dinner wandering through a cute small town.  Two problems with that.  One, Eureka (and Arcata) were hosting a "kinetic sculpture race" and the towns were full of weirdos and two, Eureka is not a cute small town.  It is a gross small town.  We really spent the whole day just driving around aimlessly it seems so once we gave up on that, we headed to dinner.  A roadside burger joint with duck taped seats called Toni's.  It was delicious.  One more fabulous food stop on our trip.

The boys were done being in the car by this point and really wanted to hang out at the beach house and let's face it, we were all done being int he car at this point, so with a day close enough to being over, we headed back to our rental and spend the evening reading Charlotte's web, watching movie's on phones (because there was no Internet service on the island where the house was) and generally having a really nice evening "at home".