Trek

I remember four years ago when Nick went on trek, and I was looking at Zach and Maddie thinking they'd never be big enough, or tough enough.  Especially Zach.  Maddie would be 16 1/2 when trek rolled around, and she can be a tough little cookie when she needs to be, but Zach would barely be 14, (actually he wasn't even quite 14 yet)  and of all my kids he is (was) my most sensitive and anxiety riddled.  And I worried about him.

But four years is a long time, and even though Zach was barely allowed to go on trek, even though he wasn't quite old enough, he was going into high school, so that qualified him.

And it's probably not very nice of me to say (especially as his mom) but when he was 10 he was a little... soft.  But although at 14 he was still the same sweet natured, sensitive kid, he thoroughly embraced the opportunity to show himself and others around him what he was made of.

And both my kids did exactly just that.  It was hard and tough and dirty and tiring and uncomfortable and exhausting, but they loved every minute of it.  Ok, that might not be entirely correct, maybe not  EVERY MINUTE, but they both told me they'd go back in a heartbeat.

I wish I could tell you more, but as I am trying to talk about an experience that happened to someone else 6 months ago, this is as good as it gets.

Side note, we got new neighbors, a couple doors down, and my bishop asked if we'd met them yet.  Me - "No.... I saw them on the morning that the kids were leaving for trek.  We thought it best to not scare them off too early." ( He thought it best to wait as well.)

defining my dash.

(Originally written Jan 5 2017, but I'm back dating for continuity.  I have 6 months of things to catch up on, and I don't want to have to look at this at the top of my blog page for who knows how long it will take for me to catch up. )

Zach has been been bugging me for awhile to update this blog.  He announced to me the other day that I was officially 6 months behind.

yeah, yeah, I know, I know.... I'm busy... I've got a lot going on... and yet we seem to do very little that belongs on a blog.  There's no fancy trips or funny little toddlers that do and say funny things. There's just laundry and dishes and work and more laundry.

But there are a few little things I could talk about - Holidays and marching band and birthdays and school concerts.   And then there's that little article I read on facebook the other day.  (Sometimes facebook is good for something other than wasting time).

Anyways, the title of the article was "Defining Your Dash".  Basically their point was that on every tombstone in every cemetery there is the same little mark.  Situated between the date of birth, and the date of death, you will find a dash.  And that's it, one tiny little "-" which represents the whole of a person's existence.  Whether that dash represents a day, an hour, 2 years, or a 100 years, the only indication of it's impact on this world are the dates on either side of it.   And then the article went on to say that within a generation or two, when all that is left of the people who knew us, is a bunch of gravestones with a bunch of dashes, that will be all that is left to define our lives. And the point of the story is to define our dashes.  Write down our stories.  Of course the article suggested that people should write a story a week, which I half considered for a moment, but then I thought about this blog and how I have like 9 years or something of stories on here, and who knows what I already shared, but maybe I just need to go back to this.

Blogging might be so 2010, but that's ok. I do it for me, and for Zach and my other kids.  And the grandparents who can't be in our lives on a daily basis.  And although I've never worried about followers beyond a mild curiosity,  I still need to get over feeling like I don't have anything interesting enough to say.

anyways... here's hoping I can stick with this.  (wish me luck)

Fighting the Bear

Have I ever mentioned how much Christopher loves cub scouts?

I'm told by his leaders that he's the first one there to the den meetings.  I fear he may be too early... (He can ride his bike there, and I work, so I have no idea at what time he goes...)

And I do remember from experience that not only does he always wear his scout shirt, he always wears his neckerchief and slider.  ALWAYS.  We've had melt downs when that little metal slider has gone missing.  My other boys hated wearing their neckerchiefs, and I think one of them hated wearing their shirt.  It was conveniently "lost" most weeks.

Anyways, he was super excited to earn his Bear award.

And in our pack, in order to actually receive your Bear, you have to fight one.

He came out of it victorious, if not a little mangled.

Congratulations, Christopher!

(Side note- 8 years of cub scouts down, only one to go. I can't decide how I feel about this.)

Temple selfies

Maddie wanted to go to the temple to do baptisms and she wanted me to go with her.  The only problem was was that I literally haven't done that since I was her age.   I'm not a fan of getting wet.  Long hair is so annoying to deal with, and it's been so long since I had, that I had no idea where to go or what to do, so I usually stick with what I know.

So Maddie showed the way.  Which was actually a pretty cool experience having my daughter be the one to lead me around.

And then naturally we had to take selfies out front, and naturally none of them turned out that great :/.

The odds and ends of Utah

Grandma took them to a movie.  Jungle Book, I believe? 

The movie theatre had Dole Whip. 2 out of 3 of my kids were very happy. (Christopher just likes vanilla)

Their other grandma took them out to dinner too.

I don't think Zach actually ate anything, what with the free refills on the rootbeer floats and all.

I think Christopher definitely got plenty of white ice-cream.

I asked why Zach was so sad.  Apparently he's not, he's just very much into his meal.

My brother Tom and his wife Amy are building a house in Heber, so they all went to check it out. 

Another new house photo.  I'm kinda jealous of those stairs going down.  People in Utah take basements for granted.

This view from their back yard is amazing. 

Another view from their home. 

Amy and Tom.  

Christopher celebrated his 10th birthday.  His aunt Corrine even made it from Texas, and of course she spoiled him and gave him something he'd been begging for for a couple of years.  An electric scooter. 

His aunt Jamie showed up as well with a crazy amount of chocolate from Costco. 

BJ and Jess tried to convince me they were making off with my inheritance.  I'm letting the boys have the Camaro, the tools, and the outdoor gear, but I want the stuff in that box.  The family history stuff, the memorabilia from my dad's childhood and his mission. I've had no competition from my brothers until Jess showed up.  My dad told her he wouldn't even think about giving it to them unless they had kids.  Good news? My kids might get more cousins.  Bad news?  I have competition.

Christopher's other grandma took him on the Heber Creeper for his birthday.  I don't think any of my kids have ever done that before.  Yay for new experiences!!

On the Heber Creeper.

Random picture of BJ and my dad.  That fat baby in the picture on the wall with the tacky splatter paint back drop is my Nick. - FYI 

EFY

Zach was super excited to finally get to go to EFY.  He's been watching his older siblings go for the past 5 years, and come back with such excitement and enthusiasm and he's been patiently waiting for his turn.

As fate would have it, we were able to get those two kids into the Provo location so they were pretty excited.  ( However, Maddie decided that BYU Provo was not the college for her for the foreseeable future.  Something smaller like NAU or BYU-Idaho seems to be a better fit.)

Anyways, EFY did not disappoint. (It never does)

The kids came back full of excitement and stories and a desire to do better and be better and all of those things that make it oh so worth it.

 

Annual lake trip with Pa

Grandpa took the kids up to a lake on what has become an annual boating adventure.  He has a canoe and a kayak, and he throws them on top of his truck and we would go up to a lake and paddle around and that's pretty much it.  Some years are better than others, and usually we never know what to expect.  Last year the drought was so bad there was hardly a lake there at all.  It was a glorified puddle, really.

Of course I wasn't there this year, but the kids told me all about it, and there were pictures.  The day seemed to start off lovely enough.   The lake could definitely be higher, but I don't think it was as bad as last year.   And the skies are blue with some pretty little fluffy clouds to keep things interesting.  (When I was little I used to wish I could see a perfectly cloudless sky, but now after living in Arizona, I know that just means that it's too bloody hot for clouds.  Even they don't want to be here in the summers.)  

Anyways, lovely, right??

Except I'm starting to sense there's change on the horizon.  You'd think I'm referring to that hat Christopher is wearing, and maybe you'd be right, but with that kid (or with any of them, really) you never really know.  Maybe he's using for shade.  But it's not his hat I'm referring to.  It's the water.  It's a looks a little darker and all ripple-y.

And I am assuming it was just moments after this picture was taken that I got this text from Maddie (and Christopher) -

And that explains the rest of these pictures.

The kids said they had fun and it was pretty awesome, but when I mentioned that to my dad he was super confused.  I don't think he thought that adventure was nearly as awesome as my kids did, but at least some of them had some fun.