A Galaxy Far, Far Away

Sometimes I feel like I live in a world of strange creatures. One of these beings is this one:

She feels things deeply and never wants to be in trouble.  She recently was shockingly sassy and I couldn't believe what she said to me.  Covered in apologies, literally plastered in 'I'm Sorry,'

 she had to win back my favor.

There has never been any doubt this one is from another planet, so we will just skip over her this time!

Then, there is the small one. 

 The one whose age appropriately clings to the description, "Terrible." One minute he is making us crack up, or astonishing us with his love of broccoli, when he refuses most food that doesn't include high doses of sugar; 

 The next minute he is screaming bloody murder, chucking things across rooms, or insisting on underwear when he really just wants to potty train for one day.  

Who can resist Yoda undies? I don't blame him.  He is obsessed with the Star Wars galaxy.  He can do every weapon's sound effect and demonstrates a light saber demise impressively.  While he was pseudo potty training and I had to place him on the throne, he was so mad, he passionately cried, "YOU DARF VADER."  Apparently, I was his sworn enemy.   

I feel like we entered hyper speed when I think of this one...

Did he just turn 10?  Actually, wasn't he just the size of the little guy behind him in the photo?  Well, despite the light speed that has carried us to this point, he just turned 11!

Gone are the days of cub scouts (which really is a whole other world in itself, who likes doing cheers where you pretend to spit watermelon seeds?! It is an odd universe, indeed!)

 He is growing up before our eyes, and yet we are experiencing deja vu because I know 5 years ago he had a Star Wars party, and here we are again.  

Dave took our eldest Jedi to see 'The Force Awakens' (for his second time), along with some of his buddies-Cameron, Tyson, Easton, Kyle and Matthew.   

Of course, a battle ensued when they returned and I felt grateful they can still be 'little' padawans.' I know these moments are becoming few and far between...eek I just realized that uses the word 'tween.'  Yea, we are there.  

This boy got his first personal electronic device and couldn't be more thrilled.  He has taken up Snowboarding a little more this season, and loves it.  He did not enjoy his trip up with Dave yesterday, which was supposed to be for Grant's birthday.  On their first warm up round, just going down the bunny hill, Dave biffed it and ended up in the resort clinic with a dislocated shoulder.  Ouch for him, bummer for them both.  Luckily, I am going to dust of my skiing skills (which haven't been tapped into for 10 years) and  take him up again this weekend.  Grant loves to tease, hates to do homework and piano, but he is a great student at both.  He has enjoyed junior jazz this season, has grown into a fun tennis player, and is excited for soccer to start up again.  He is a loyal friend with a tender heart and a desire to be good.  He will never join the dark side!  

Grant loves the winter weather and it is so fun to see all the caves/tunnels/forts that dot our yard and the Taylors' across the street. 

We are so happy Grant is a part of our family.  He is so important to us all.  His little apprentice in combat looks forward everyday to their battles...then Harrison ends up screaming, but soon, it will be fun for all! 

I swear I exist in a galaxy far, far away, where I am in a perpetual 24 year old loop.  How I came to be 35 with kids and responsibilities that are far reaching into eternity, I cannot grasp.  So, I just take it day by day, seem to play house with Dave and enjoy my birthday creme brulee!  Because, hey, what else can ya do?!

Holiday Hoopla

Well, despite the lack of posting or capturing with photos, Thanksgiving did indeed happen in 2015.  We were in Utah for Thanksgiving and enjoyed dinner at Grandma and Grandpa's.  My favorite tradition in November is writing our 'thankful-fors' (as Brenna says) on our chalkboard every night. We are each color coded and each evening we share something we are grateful for.  While the comments range from indoor plumbing to family, each gift is such a blessing.  We start the Christmas holidays with full hearts as we have paused to see all we have been given.  December is always so busy.  Somehow this time around, I wanted to ignore that fact.  I didn't get around to family pictures, Christmas cards, some of our yearly goodies or shopping with any time to spare!  But, even if I didn't move forward, all of our activities still did.  

Brenna had her ballet recital.

She had her perma-grin plastered on her face and had the cutest part in the dance.  All the other little girls jumped into a Jack-in-the Box and she bent over and blew a kiss.  She loved it.  

She takes dance with her friend Kinley.  Dave may have snoozed through the performance, saying ballet is not his thing, but what he saw, he was impressed with!!  

We crashed our neighbor's family Christmas party because they are friends with the real Santa whom we have had breakfast with the past few years.  

Santa brought his book from the North Pole that his elves put together that tells him what the kids are needing to work on to get on the NICE list.  Harrison looks BUSTED!

Every night Brenna would wonder if she would make it on the nice list, she was convinced she wouldn't.  Last night, when putting her to bed, I asked her, "Will you be nice to me tomorrow?"  She said,"I would like to.  But that's just not something I can do."  

Katelee's big requests were earrings and gumballs...Santa was pretty sure he could arrange that.  Grant sat on Santa's lap and decorated the gingerbread houses the hosts had planned.  His consisted of murdered gingerbread men who were dismembered and beheaded, we were so proud.  

And of course, the month was filled with holiday festivities...viewing the lights at temple square, touring the Candy Cane Corner store, sitting in line for an hour to see the Thanksgiving Point lights (because it was free night, I mean we saved $5-Dave thought he was going to go insane), the Mormon Tab choir concert for me, Christmas caroling at a care center with friends, a BYU bowl game for Dave,

 holiday movies and parties, cookies and candy...

Just lots of fun!  Of course, our busiest weekend ended up with two Instacare visits (kidney infection for Katelee, croup for Harrison-which resulted in missing a diving meet..that was a big deal).  The same day, Brenna came down with the pukes, our car wouldn't start and AAA had to come jump it, Dave was gone at a BYU basketball game some of the day, but we made it through those 24 hours.  Then, we all got the stomach virus.  Tis the season!!

A big highlight for Grant was seeing Star Wars.  I know this impressed upon his soul because after we came home from the movie, he said family prayer and it went a little something like this...

'We are so grateful we got to see Star Wars tonight.  We feel so honored.'  Dave also took the older three to Goosebumps over the break.  It is a PG rating and I had seen it, so I wasn't worried about Brenna, but she has been concerned about the villain (a ventriloquist dummy named Slappy) since she saw it.  The other day she said to me, "mom, you remind me of Slappy." I was taken back and could not figure what Slappy and I have in common.  When I asked her how and why, she replied, "well, you are kind of a dummy."  WHAT?!!  She calmly explained to me that's what he is called.  I'm so sure that was all she meant.  Honestly, she is five folks.  I am in trouble.  

We had lots of snow the week of Christmas so the kids enjoyed the winter wonderland for hours on end.  Christmas Eve we went to the Petrick's for a party and came home watching Santa's journey on the internet.  The kids went to bed without a fuss (we thought we were all going to have melatonin that night!) and got up bright and early,but they knew they couldn't come into our room until 7.  Harrison had no clue what was going on, but it was magical for everyone.  Grant got a snowboard and gear, nerf gun and legos to name a few gifts.  Some of Katelee's highlights were: a karaoke machine, legos, earring and gumballs (THANK YOU SANTA!).  Brenna loved her lego set, ever after high dolls and crafts.  But, I'd say her favorite is her white board and markers.  Go figure.  Harrison got a few toys but once he found his mini Captain America doll in his stocking, nothing else mattered.

We had our quiche breakfast, 

lounged around most of the day till after Harrison's nap.  When he woke up, we went sledding with Brandon, Malia and Jack.  The sledding fun lasted .3 minutes for Harry.   He was not a fan.  But, the others seemed to enjoy it.  Amy and Mark came over later for dinner and games.  It was a fantastic day!

I am so glad that we get to carry on the fun through New Years.  We had a New Years Eve party with the Sorensons.

We had a ton of food, games, activities (musical chairs, bingo, minute to win it challenges) and stayed until a little after 10.  

Harrison seemed to be going strong, but I wanted to put him to bed, so off to sleep he went and the rest of us awaited the countdown.  Brenna asked if she HAD to stay up till midnight, luck for her, I let her fall asleep at 11:40 ;).  She was oh, so close.  And now, we are trying to recover and get back to the day to day routine.  The kids were so not happy about going back to school, but they seem to have survived the last few days! 

As another year ends and one begins, naturally I reflect on where we have been, what we have been through and where I am going on my journey here in life.  I can say I had a realization that while we have had some really tough things the past year or two, I know I will look back and remember these as my fondest years...having all my kids home, enjoying the magic of the season, seeing their joy, experiencing and feeling love and service together.  I know that I am living the best years of my life and I am overwhelmed with happiness and gratitude.  I know marriage, motherhood, life happens.  But I don't want it to just happen, I want to make it happen, to be a part of whereever I am.  For now, I am not letting the best days of my life go by, but I am making  them the best years of my life...I hope!

Dressing Up

 October is a much anticipated month in a home with four kids.  Dressing up in various disguises and costumes is a daily event for small kids, but something about showing it off to people other than your immediate family makes it more fun, I suppose!  Katelee started off the month with her dress rehearsals for Peter Pan Junior with our local community theatre.

By the middle of the month, it was show time for this fairy!  She played Lyria and was absolutely glowing! She lit up the stage and was thrilled to have a mic (even though it gave her a terrible rash!) because she had some lines.  

She was in the production with these cute ladies from our neighborhood: Addie, Malia and Ella.  It was so fun to see gals we knew up on stage.  The theatre bug has continued to spread and Brenna is itching for her chance to perform.  

Grant got spiffed up in his official cub scout uniform as he was awarded his Arrow of Light...which is a big deal!  The highest honor of cubs.  

He met all the requirements and earned all the pins/badges/adventures and will be ready for boy scouts in a few months.  

He has had some awesome Webelo leaders, as is obvious from his plaque they ordered!  I'm not going to lie, the Arrow of Light ceremony seems a little strange to me, but Grant loved having his face painted with the tribal lines representing values.  The symbolic bridge he went under didn't do much for me, but the cake did! We are so proud of his hard work! 

Here are Dave and Brenna decked out in their BYU apparel for the game against Wagner!  Wag-NER, as Brenna yells it!  She was so pumped to have a one on one game with Dad, but was not so excited when she discovered Katelee went to the game, even though it was with a friend and she wouldn't see them.  There were tears, but I think it was a success none the less. Here is  Brenna Elsa..we named her Brenna Catherine, but she recently told her friend that her middle name is Elsa.  When the mom of her friend heard this, she said, "Oh really, Brenna?  Your middle name is Elsa?  So, if I asked your mom what your middle name is, that's what she would say?"  Without skipping a beat, this frozen princess claimed, "Sometimes my mom lies."  

We are getting ready to don our coats as snow in the forecast, but we haven't had too many cold days yet.  We went to the pumpkin patch with just light jackets.

We picked out our favorite gourds, ran through the corn maze, climbed on tractors, went on a hay ride and failed at capturing the 

'I love my little punkins' picture that seemed to work out so well for everyone else on social media.  Ah well.  This is our reality!

We had another fair weather day when we went to see the witches at Gardner Village.

Good thing that witch was behind a fence, I didn't want her snatching that little guy.  

The kids had red ribbon week and crazy hair day adds so much to a month of trickery...its tricky getting a comb through Katelee's hair for a few days after that!  It baffles me that Katelee feels that this is a good style for her but when I mention to her that her golden locks are getting more and more wavy, she is devastated.  She has told me on multiple occasions that she does NOT want to get curly hair like me.  With puberty not too far away (when my locks when from wavy to kinky!), I'm afraid she is going to have a hair tragedy hit...beware honey! It will be frightening!

Brenna on the other hand, believes her hair is beautiful.  She told Katelee and me the other day that people tell her all the time how pretty it is.  I replied that what makes her even more beautiful is how she is when she is kind and a good friend and how we are on the inside make her beautiful.  She responded with, "yea...that AND my hair!"

  

We dressed up our dinner with some witch fingers, broom sticks, monster teeth and pumpkin faces all in anticipation for the big spookfest at the end of the week.  

Finally, it was Halloween!  Festivities included parties and a school parade.  This little witch has been so tricky-at dinner, she claimed she needed to use our water closet.  We had her open her mouth to prove there was no food (we've had incidents of spit up veggies in the sink, toilet and garbage).  Mouth clear, she had the go ahead.  It was the next day that I found carrots neatly tucked in the lip of the wipe basket on top of the lieu.  That sneaky gal.  

a Trunk or Treat early in the week and a neighborhood dinner.  (Here is the Revolutionary War band with Matthew as the dreaded Redcoat; Cameron and Grant as the brave Patriots).

Spooky movies were watched and treats consumed (M&M's of course),

games were played and we danced to Thriller, 

 and of course, Trick or Treating!!!  I am a piece of bubble gum, by the way. 

 After the hours of door bell knocking, the treats were dumped out and the sorting began...no chewy caramel stuff for the brace face, no gluten for the celiac queen, etc.  We got way too much, of course!  Grant, while praying later, thoughtfully said, 'we are grateful for this Halloween and pray that we can use our candy in a good way.'  They have been doing this-by sharing it every night with me! (even if they don't know!)

 I love this pensive picture of my Revolutionary War hero and it caused me a brief moment of reflection.  While dressing up and being in disguise is wonderful entertainment and good times for everyone, what sort of facades do I wear?  What duplicity am I exhibiting?  Life has twists and turns and forks that you have to choose with path you are taking...and do it bravely.  It's easy to hide under a mask, to pretend to be someone else.  It takes courage to know who you are and be ready for whatever may cause you to question that.  Take it from Mr. 1776, it can be a war, but it is worth fighting!

School and Schedules

Last post was about our start of school and here we are with nearly 2 months under our belts.  Without a doubt, gone are the lazy days of summer!  Just in the last month, we have run from scouts to soccer to tennis to tumbling to dance to play practice to diving to activity days to piano...and that's just the kids extra curriculars!  Phew!

We got to start out the month with one of our favorite annual traditions-Snowbird!  While we don't own a time share, we love to enjoy the generosity of others!  Ha!  

We swam, played on the playground, slept over, watched movies, walked, ate a lot, played games and hiked.  Dave tagged along on the big boys (nice way of saying 'old guys') hike!  Just kidding, they left Dave eating their dust, I hear.  This is Dave, Jason and my cousins Craig and Mike.  Chris must be the photographer.  He is the yearly hike organizer and each hike is always a doozy.  Chris had Dave believing they were leaving at 5am and you should have heard the grumbling at our house!  Everyone got a good laugh when Dave found out it was actually a 7am departure time.  

Later that week, I went with Paige and my mom to Denver to visit Brad's family and go to Time Out For Women.  We had a short busy visit listening to messages and being uplifted.  I can't get over how Alofa thinks she is a human baby.  She gets carried around on Haley's hip like a toddler... a very heavy, hairy toddler.  

Dave and the kids were delighted with the surprises and treats I brought back.  We found a really fun candy store downtown  (right next to the 8th medicinal marijuana shop on the block!). The store had outrageous novelty sweets and snacks.  There were tons of popcorn flavors-dill pickle, beer, birthday cake to name a few-not mixed together, of course!  I came home with bacon flavored mints and cheddar flavored crickets.  Each of us tried the crickets...I was the only one to gag!

Dave was gone for a lot of the month-traveling to Michigan for a football game, Spokane and DC for work.  He got back just in time to attend a football game with Grant and Brent and Max and Carl who were in town for general conference.  Katelee also got a football game with Dave last week. 

As we all seem to feel, we have been running, running, running.  Dave and I are not great at making time for dates with each other, but we got a babysitter one night and ditched the kids while we went to the state fair.  I felt a little guilty going without them, but we had a great time.  We enjoyed the people watching, the crafty buildings, the cows as big as a house, we could not enter the pig den...we tried but the stench was too much!  Dave is not a big carnival ride kind of guy, but he agreed to go on one.  I picked the tall 'Zipper' that encloses two people in a cage, spins around really high, making the cages rotate upside down quickly.  I was SHOCKED when he said he would do it with me, but totally stoked.  He went to buy tickets, I saved our place in line and met a dad and son waiting behind us.  The dad left for a few minutes and I watched the little boy for him.  As we got closer to the ride, Dave and Nathaniel (my new 6 year old best friend) started talking about the ride.  Then, Nathaniel's dad joined in.  The dad and Dave started to get cold feet.  This ride was no joke, neither did it look too reliable.  Dave, ever the negotiator, started to propose and idea that if he could sell his ticket, perhaps I would enjoy being locked in a cage with this unfamiliar 6 year old. 

 I laughed at his proposal, sure it was a joke, but no.  The dad and Dave agreed that was the best plan.  And that's how my date shuffled me off to a stranger. 

 As we entered our cage, I was just shaking my head and laughing.  We rode up and did fine, but when those little baskets started spinning, we had one unhappy 6 year old.  I was certain I was about to be puked on by someone else's kid as I was locked in a metal cage rocking upside down.  I rubbed this boys back and my thoughts raced between, 'I'm gonna kill Dave.' "This is a wild ride!" to "Poor boy, it will be okay." to "Is it awkward that I am hugging this crying child?" to "Why did his parents do this to me?!"  But, we survived and Nathaniel told me he will NEVER ride that again!

Our own boy has been busy finishing up his soccer season with the Smurfs.  While the name of Smurfs matches the blue uniform, it seemed a little fluffy to me.  However, we are so glad that was the chosen name and not "Devil Kitties" like Grant suggested.  This team is so great!  The coaches, whom we have had before are so positive and encouraging and really push the kids as well.  Our team is a U11 team and their division plays U11 as well as U12 teams, so while it looked like some of the other teams may either eat them or plow them right over, the Smurfs fought hard each game. 

 Grant also earned his WEBELO! He will be getting his Arrow of Light this month.  He has been a super scouter!

Balancing school and family life and homework and activities is hard.  The times we are home and together, I want to be positive and filled with love.  I want my kids to feel confident and supported so when they are out in the world, they never doubt their value.  Brenna's kindergarten schedule has been great but challenging for her.  She asked me one day if I knew what the word 'lonely' meant because sometimes she feels like that at school.  Break my heart into a million pieces. I want the world to be nice to my loves and yet, I know it won't always happen.  I am so grateful we had general conference last week.  I do not doubt the love our Heavenly Father and Savior have for each of us.  Their have answers and guidance ready for us through revelation and prayer, scriptures, apostles and prophets and especially the personal relationship through the Holy Ghost.  I want all  my kids to know that.  Brenna did take notes and while her notes said the following...'dear president Monson you are friends with me'....dear Henry B Eyring you are handsome...'dear Russell M Nelson you are a big fan of me' (I asked her if she meant she is a fan of him, and nope, she meant it that way)...she still felt good listening during conference!  How I love this little family of mine!