Weekend news

We're wrapping a good weekend by enjoying a quiet home in which all boys (except me) are asleep. Today was a little hard on Sammy & Riley -- four hours of conference and not single cousin to play with -- just books, puzzles and wooden spoons doubling as ninja swords. Not long after the second session ended, I took them to a nearby park to let them get some pent-up energy out by riding their bikes and playing on the big toy. It seemed to help, and they actually had a dinner appetite, but by 7 p.m. their tired bodies had had enough -- trouble is, their minds weren't convinced and the result was belligerence.

Yesterday we had the Palmers and Cookes over for the first session of conference, and afterwards we were joined by Dan & Deanne's family. Between sessions we ate pizza, salad and had brownies to celebrate Eric's 12th birthday. The Palmers then had to leave, but Dan & Deanne and Leah & Joel stayed for the second session. After that we watched a TV show or two from Joel's iPod and the boys all played around the house, but mostly downstairs. Later that night Dan and I went to chapel for the Priesthood session and the women watched "Dan in Real Life" here at the house. It was a fun day.

A day or two ago, Sammy and Riley came in from outside, excitedly carrying a worm they'd found in the yard. Christy helped them bottle up some fresh soil and they stretched some Saran wrap (with holes poked in it) over the top. The boys named the worm "Harry Potter," which is apt, because he promptly put on his invisibility cloak. Later that day, Christy and I thought we saw a very still worm's tail poking out of the soil--and we fear the worst. Apparently they might have damaged poor Harry a little in their excitement. According to Christy, he looked pretty beat up -- maybe even partly severed around the middle. So I call him "Nearly Half-Gone Harry." It's probably time to confirm his living status, but I just haven't had the time or inclination to go digging for a worm corpse. OK, OK, I'll go check now...

Hooray! Harry is alive! (Sorry, but Dumbledore is still pushing up daisies.) I dug down to the bottom of the jar, and there he was, alive and intact. His wriggle was a little feeble, however. We're hoping our slimy little pet will be with us a little longer.

Have a great week.

Surprises

The past week has been full of surprises, mostly good.



We enjoyed a visit from Grandma Barber and Melissa (not a surprise-we always have fun with them). We even managed to make it to a local performance of "Big River," which was surprisingly good. Best of all was the actor who portrayed Jim--he has a CD out and was definitely the best part of the show. Pretty powerful singing.



We realized shortly before leaving that a live performance is not the place to take a baby (we usually take Zeke everywhere), so we left him home with the babysitter (who had brought a friend). Yeah, well, in the past three weeks he has decided he no longer likes bottles. He refused to eat all night and we came home to a hungry (sleeping) baby and two frazzled babysitters. We're now doing bottle training, every night, but he refuses to eat unless he's distracted by the TV. Evidently it's entertaining enough to make him forget the injustice of eating from a bottle.



Saturday night, Bruce and the boys finished cleaning the basement and sat down to play. Riley can navigate our basement floor fine when it's covered with toys, but wouldn't you know, when there are only two or three toys on the floor, he trips and breaks his arm. He cried for about 10 minutes after the fall, and the arm bugged him just a little that night and Sunday. On Monday it was mostly better but we still took him to the doctor. By the time of the appointment, he was playing with it just fine, wiggling like nothing was wrong. The doctor squeezed and prodded and decided it was probably not broken (Riley didn't even flinch at all this), but said he'd order an x-ray if it would make me feel better. So a few pictures later, Riley had a cast on and the doctor said it was good he hadn't made any bets on Riley's arm. Riley was pretty uninterested in the whole thing, even getting the cast on; all he cared about was getting a lollipop at the end. The cast doesn't bother him and hasn't slowed him down at all. For anyone planning to break a bone, I think Riley's method is the way to go.



Sunday's great surprise was that we had almost the entire choir show up to practice after a week off and with no reminder phone calls! Maybe they're all finally getting in the habit of coming. I have high hopes for their performance on April 20 (another Mack Wilberg arrangement) and we wish everyone could be here to hear.



Finally, Bruce was surprised by the delicious pinto bean pie I made for dessert at our ward Emergency Preparedness Fair last night. Or was it a pecan pie? It was hard to tell a difference...

Comings & Goings

It's late and we're bushed, so we'll touch on the recent highlights. The Kurt and Kara Lyman family are in town for a couple of weeks, and we were glad to have them over for dinner today. Sammy & Riley both adore Haylie, and she seems to like them OK, too. Maybe it's not my place to comment, but Kurt and Kara are both doing Weight Watchers and they're looking good. I've been trying to exercise and eat better the last few weeks (doing better at exercising than avoiding junk food, truth be told) and have shed a few pounds, too.

We got up early today because we had to be at church by 7:30 for choir practice, since today was ward conference. Sammy & Riley were both grumpy about being up so early, and I won't claim there weren't some difficult moments getting them ready, but we made it. Riley was still in pajamas when we left and Sammy was crying but when we got to church they both calmed down pretty fast. It was ward conference today and the choir sang several numbers, all of which went well and added to the spirit of the meeting. Then of course we had choir practice after church, in preparation for Easter Sunday next week.

Yesterday we got a babysitter and went to Park City with Dan & Deanne, where we (what else?) shopped at the outlet mall. We all found some things we liked and had a good time without kids, except for Zeke and Tate, but they weren't any trouble. I'm sure our other boys had more fun at home than they would have had if they'd come, too.

This coming week Christy and the boys will accompany me on a trip through eastern and southern Utah on Wednesday, and then on to Grand Junction on Thursday. That evening we'll head over to the Kent and Kathryn Palmer house, which we're all looking forward to. Rumor has it the Easter bunny will be visiting their place Saturday morning. We'll drive back Saturday afternoon.

So that's our life for now. Until next time...

Happy birthday to me!

Vacation.

I’ve come to a new understanding of this word over the past two days. When I was younger, the annual family “vacation” to visit relatives in Utah or Washington was not really a vacation to me. Especially not the hours in a car with my bothersome brothers (they probably felt the same about me). After Bruce and I got married, we couldn’t afford a real “vacation” to Hawaii, or even the Pacific Coast. And with kids, even when we do something fun like camping, it is far from a vacation for me.

So in January when Bruce sent me an e-mail with an invite from the federal employees in Casper inviting him to a meeting on March 11, my birthday, he jokingly asked if I’d like a vacation to Casper for my birthday. I laughed out loud when I read it, but then I reconsidered and surprised Bruce with my answer: “Actually, yes.”

So here I am, spending my birthday afternoon riding into the sunset across the brown Wyoming plains, having the time of my life. Or at least, the time of my past few months. This trip has fulfilled my expectations and has been a true vacation.

We left Sammy and Riley with friends in Layton, and drove to Casper yesterday. Zeke has been great in the car, crying only when he’s hungry and smiling and sleeping the rest of the time. We got to Casper for a late dinner at a local steakhouse, where the food was even tastier than we expected (sweet potato pie!). The hotel was clean; we lounged in our room and watched movies until we were tired. Free hotel breakfasts are amazing compared to 20 years ago—waffle bars, (fake) scrambled eggs, yogurt, granola. Then I let Zeke nap, packed, read the paper, and had my own nap while Bruce went to his meeting. We had a good lunch in cute downtown Casper, Bruce dropped off one last award at the (tiny) airport, and we headed out. We even stopped for a tour of the Martin’s Cove visitors center, but it was too cold and windy to make the two-mile hike out to the cove itself.

In short, a great vacation. I feel refreshed and rested, and it’s been short enough that I don’t miss Sammy and Riley too much. Who knew I’d have so much fun on Bruce’s CFC road trips? And while it wasn’t as much of a vacation for Bruce, he’s had more fun because I’m here. How often do we get 6 uninterrupted hours to talk to each other?

If only next week’s trip to southern Utah and Colorado promised to be so restful. But Sammy and Riley demand a little more attention than Zeke. Oh well, today was for me (great birthday present), and we’ll have a great time next week too, as long as the hotel has a swimming pool for the boys!

Of birthdays and bathrooms

This will be a short one. On Friday, Christy called me at work and said, "Listen to this!" I then heard her making some tickling noises, which were followed by the sounds of Zeke grunting and laughing. It is so magical the first time a baby laughs -- I could listen to it over and over without growing tired of it.

We survived another Sunday. Lately the sacrament meeting routine is that shortly after the sacrament, Christy and Zeke head to the mother's lounge and I end up escorting one or both of the boys to the bathroom. Our boys are not efficient bathroom goers, and I end up missing the majority of the meeting. So does Christy, of course, but she does have the benefit of a quiet room and the sound being piped in.

Tomorrow we're driving to Casper for one of my Eagle delivery trips. We'll stay overnight, and I'll meet with some people and make some deliveries before we turn around and drive back Tuesday afternoon, which is Christy's birthday. We're taking Zeke, but Sammy and Riley will be staying with some friends. Normalliy I wouldn't have scheduled this on her birthday but the Casper agencies had a once-a-month Federal Executive Committee meeting they wanted me to attend, in order to present the top awards and talk to them about CFC. I still would have passed, but when I told Christy about it she said she wanted to come. So we'll celebrate her 29th birthday with an excursion to exotic Casper, Wyoming. We'll celebrate her birthday for real on Thursday, when she plans to make the chocolate wasabi cake she's been scheming about for weeks. Wish everyone could come!

Until next time.

At the Alma Mater

This week has been busier than most -- or maybe it just seems that way. Yesterday afternoon Christy and I took Zeke down to Provo with us (Dan & Deanne watched Sammy & Riley for us) for a visit to BYU. First we stopped to visit Emily Dunford, a friend of Christy's who lives Pleasant Grove. Emily had a brain tumor removed a few years ago that unfortunately left her with motor skills problems--just walking and talking are big challenges for her, although she's endured her trials well. Although she might claim otherwise, Christy has been a good friend to her, especially considering the distance -- she's made time to visit her and call her many times.

When we got to campus, we parked close to the Wilkinson Center (thank you, Saturday) and grabbed a bite at the Cougareat. Then we walked over to the BYU Museum of Art and looked at the Minerva Teichert exhibit for about an hour. It was great, but I think what really impressed me was the enormous Carl Bloch painting BYU has on display: Christ at the Pool of Bethesda. We strolled around the campus for a while after that, reminiscing and admiring all the new additions. I hadn't actually been on the main campus for years and I couldn't believe how much it's changed -- there seemed to be a new building or structure everywhere we looked. Probably the most impressive new building is the Joseph F. Smith building, which replaced the old Smith Family Living Center. It's huge, but beautifully done.

At 6 o'clock we met another couple at Ottavio's, a popular Italian restaurant on Center Street. Barett Christensen and his wife Heidi were nice hosts--he works for LDS Charities, and has been trying to get them into the Combined Federal Campaign for a couple of years, but meeting with some internal resistance. It seems most of those barriers have come down now and he expects they'll be able to apply in 2009, having barely missed the cutoff this year. Anyway, dinner was very good, and afterwards we went to the Marriot Center to watch the BYU dismantle the Air Force Academy in basketball. We had pretty good seats, in a section where BYU often hosts big donors to the school.

By the time we got to Dan & Deanne's house to pick up the boys, it was almost 11 p.m., and closer to midnight when we finally dropped into bed back at our house. But it was a fun day.

It snowed last night, after a week or so of relatively warm weather, in which much of the snow on the ground had melted. There must have been a hoarfrost covering the new snow, because it stayed on the branches despite the weather warming up again, and the effect was really pretty. I snapped a couple of pictures on my cell camera--hopefully they turned out OK.

Our lives have been disturbed this week by a bit of sickness. On Monday, Deanne and kids couldn't go swimming with us due to some very unpleasant illnesses. On Thursday, they couldn't play with us due to more of the same. On Friday, our kids began coughing (didn't get it from Tracen and Tyler, though), and it got worse Saturday. I got to stay home from church with them today, and I'm glad to report Sammy and Riley are getting a bit better. Zeke, however, is not doing well and seems more miserable tonight than he has been the past two days. Poor guy is probably wondering why he was excited to get into one of these bodies, just to hack and cough and feel crummy.

I've been thinking about "disturbances" this weekend. On Friday I was listening to a U of U professor/poet on a radio talk show, and she mentioned how grateful she was for the "disturbance" of motherhood, because it forced her to see that the world didn't revolve around her. She went on to talk about how she constantly needs disturbances in life to remind her of this.

I am the first to admit that my three little boys are three big disturbances (in this good way, not the annoying way). My life as a mother seems to be happy or unhappy based not on the events of any day, my children's behavior, or any other external factors. Happiness comes when I welcome the disturbance and recenter my universe around someone other than me. This happens frequently when I take time to teach or play with the boys. But it happens most noticeably when any of them are sick. Especially because they are so young, sickness and pain are so hard to see in my boys. I've surprised myself with how easily I change from cranky mom to devoted nurse when one of them is sick. Nothing consumes me so much as taking care of a sick child, and I have never regretted setting aside my list of personal projects or diversions to hold, comfort, or care for a sick child. If only I could keep that perspective at all times. I think that's what we sign up for when we become parents, we just don't realize how hard it is.

(It was hard just now to interrupt my train of thought to comfort my littlest disturbance, who is sleeping fitfully today due to the cough.)

On a different level, other disturbances are good for us, even though they aren't as fulfilling or pleasant as children. I think of petty arguments in my own life--the kind that serve no purpose but to bother someone else. All the times I snap at someone, or speak rudely, or put myself above someone else. All the times I witness others doing the same and hear the harshness of it, then realize I can't condemn them because I do it sometimes too. Sometimes I forget that I'm not the center of everyone else's universe.

I think of friends who have disagreed and refuse to reconcile. I know it's easier for them to avoid each other. But what a waste of happiness!

I think of another friend who could have died this week--two blood clots in the lungs and a large one in her leg. She's still got some time left in the hospital, and a lot more time resting at home, but she's alive. I'm sure her perspective has changed.

I think of our nation's collective grieving after 9/11, when we came together for strength. How sad that we've reverted to argument and finger-pointing. Not that we have to agree on everything, but that we can't disagree with more respect for each other--united toward the same ends if not in the same means.

We can let all of life's "disturbances" really bother us, use them as excuses for anger, bitterness, rudeness, unhappiness. Or we can let them remind us that our pride, our pursuits, our happiness are not the central concern of all creation. We can let these disturbances shift our focus from ourselves to something else. Something good, hopefully. My three little disturbances in and of themselves are almost the best possible thing to focus on. Even better is when I see through them to my Creator. Through my love for my children I feel God's love for me, His agony at sending His Son to suffer for His other children. I see a way for me to accept His love, and to show gratitude by loving others.

The past few days, I've tried (not always successfully) to be grateful for each disturbance. It's hard to take the setbacks and frustrations of life and always be cheerful. But each time I look past myself and care for someone else, it shifts my focus a little bit more toward God. Being imperfect means I need constant reminders--that must be why I've ended up with three little boys.

Here's hoping we all have a week full of little disturbances that help us forget ourselves, and bless the lives of others. And by the way, the creme brulee and pistachio cake were both amazing--still have some cake left and we'd welcome the disturbance of visitors enough to share with you!