Back to the Future....or What Happened to Summer?

Did I really just blink my eyes and have the whole summer gone? How did it go by so fast? I'm sitting here trying to remember all of the many, many things that kept us so busy all summer that we didn't even notice it disappearing....

1. Sonny Pie graduating from Logan High School(as per previous post).
He was so ready to move on. So he's very happy now to be a student at Utah State University!

2. Summer Orchestra.
DaVinci & Superstar both participated in summer orchestra for the month of June. It's at 8:00 am which is way too early when I've been looking forward to being able to sleep in a little when school gets out. They like it though, especially Superstar who was invited to participate in a chamber group that played at a workshop for orchestra teachers.

3. Too much snow at Camp Loll.
Sonny Pie was supposed to leave for camp on June 8(?), but there was so much snow that they couldn't get in. They finally decided they had to get in no matter what on July 1. Even then they had to shovel snow off of  TWO MILES of road to be able to make it in. The first two weeks of camp were cancelled. That was a really long three weeks for all of us while Sonny Pie anxiously waited every day for news of when and how he would get to his beloved camp.

4. Juice coming home from China.
On June 26 Juice arrived home from China. She was jet-lagged and tired and happy. We're so glad to have her home!

5. Utah Festival Opera & Musical Theatre.
We are so lucky that Stephen's work sponsors the opera dress rehearsals and we can get free tickets to them. It's pretty much like the real performances but not as crowded and we can get the best(most expensive) seats. Stephen's mother comes every year and goes with us and this year my parents came to a couple of them also. It's always a highlight of our summer.

6. Cutie's 7th Birthday.
Right in the middle of the operas mentioned above is Cutie's birthday. He really, really wanted a party so we threw a pirate party. We put bandanas on their heads and sent them on a treasure hunt. The treasure was a pinata shaped like a parrot full of candy necklaces, ring pops, and chocolate coins. It was all topped off with a pirate ship cake with ice cream. We got Cutie a bike for his birthday which he now is thrilled to ride around the neighborhood all day and night if we let him.

Here's the Back to the Future part:

7. Howard Jones concert!
Stephen & I have both been HoJo fans since before we met and we've gone to several of his concerts since we've been married. We were very excited to take Juice, her friend, and DaVinci to the Sandy Amphitheater on July 9 to see him in concert once again. It brings back so many memories of college days. I remember being at a church dance and going outside with some friends to cool off, but hearing the beginning of a HoJo song we all RAN back inside to dance. Oh, and the lip sync a group of us did to Like To Get To Know You Well with a giant stuffed snake weaving it's way around the audience. I guess you probably had to be there. It was so much fun. It's still pretty fun, especially when I'm sharing it with my family! My brother Robert, his wife Lynnae, and their two oldest kids were there with us too.

8. Swimming.
I spent every summer practically living at the pool when I was 13-16. I LOVED IT! I got to know the owners  of the pool and they taught me to dive. I worked for them a little. It was the best time! This summer DaVinci refused to take swimming lessons. He doesn't swim as well as I would like so rather than trying to force him to take lessons I bought some punch passes and went swimming with the kids. The time spent in the water was probably more valuable to them than the half-hour lessons where they only swim for about ten because the teacher has to split the time between four or five kids. And I got to swim too! When the kids are in swim lessons I just sit on the side. I do have to give credit to the Logan Aquatic Center though because this year they offered water aerobics for the parents during swim lessons. I did have Cutie in two sessions and I really enjoyed the water aerobics. It was wonderful to be in the water. I love to swim!

9. The Big Flood.
On July 10 we were walking out the door for church and sent one of the kids back in to comb his hair. He combed it and came back out and we went to church. When we got home 3 1/2 hours later we found the water in the upstairs bathroom running and water EVERYWHERE! He had left the water on and that drain is really slow. Fortunately, our home owner's insurance covered the damage, but that took a huge chunk out of our summer because we spent so much time with workers at the house doing repairs. We're still waiting for the new vanity for the bathroom since the one we chose was out of stock and is taking a while to get here. Hopefully soon!

10. The Big DeJunk.
So the big flood prompted the big dejunk. Since we were pulling up the laminate floor in the living room and most of it was perfectly good, we decided to replace the carpet in our room with the old laminate from the LR. We couldn't stand to replace the floor and not paint so we painted too. Then we just felt the need to paint the bathroom while we're waiting for the vanity. Then we decided to move all the kids' bedrooms downstairs and make this upstairs room into an office/library/sewing room/instrument room. All of those things were spread out all over the house so moving them all into one room made space in other parts of the house that had to be dealt with. Stephen's music studio has been moved upstairs. All in all we've gone through literally EVERYTHING in our house. We've sent SO much to DI. There's still a little more to do but it feels really good to get things in order!

11. Family Reunion.
On July 30(Sonny Pie's Birthday) we went to Twin Falls, ID for the Hymas family reunion. It was really fun to see all of my aunts and uncles and cousins. We don't get to see everyone very often. When I was growing up we got together pretty often and we've always been a pretty close family. Now the Grandma & Grandpa are gone we don't get together much. I am really grateful for all of the work of my cousins Sarah & Shelley who put this together so that we can spend some time together. I can just imagine Grandma & Grandpa looking down with joy and gratitude to see the family growing.

12. Bass Camp.
Superstar participated in a Bass Camp for young bass players. He LOVED it! He got to spend all day for four days working with older, accomplished bass players. At the recital on the last day, the teacher said he even corrected her on a key signature once during the camp. He's pretty smart about musical things. I'm pretty excited to see where he ends up!

Well, I know I've left some things out, like the blessing of my very cute nephew Evan on July 2, but this should give you some idea why I haven't had time for blogging. All summer I kept thinking I need to blog about all of this, but there just wasn't time so here's your synopsis. Now I am contemplating taking a job as an aide at the elementary school for a couple of hours a day. Hopefully I can make time to keep up!

How did this happen?

                                                From this.....            

To this......All overnight!

Wet and Wormy

Waking up to pounding on the trampoline outside.

Worms stretched out on the sidewalk avoiding a watery grave.

Raindrops pattering, spattering

It's a wet and wormy day.

People running here and there trying to stay dry.

Windshield wipers rhythmic chant keeping us alive.

Wind blowing, flowing

It's a wet and wormy day.

Puddles unavoidable because they're all around.

Children huddled waiting for the bus, wishing it were here.

Umbrellas bobbing, mobbing

It's a wet and wormy day.

"I will never.....

 ....play sword fighting on the trampoline again!" That's what Cutie said  on the way to the Dr. office after he fell off the trampoline three weeks ago. Of course if I had known what they were doing I would have stopped it sooner. He came to the door crying and kept crying for about an hour. I thought it might be broken and told him so. He asked me if they would cut his arm off!

Here's his swollen up elbow that night. He was pretty excited to get the x-ray. He was really excited to see the bones in his arm. Apparently he thougt x-rays were only something in cartoons. He said he didn't know x-rays were real. 

Here he is with the splint and sling we got that night. He doesn't look too unhappy here and he really wasn't after we had been to the Dr. and gotten some ibuprofen in him. Just a couple of days later the neighbor called and asked if he should be jumping on their trampoline! Of course I said he better wait at least until he had a cast on it. After a week with the splint so the swelling could go down we went back to the Dr. to get a cast.

This hasn't stopped Cutie from doing much--only going to the school swim party. Here he is with his nice green cast running in the Wildcat Run at school. A couple more weeks and he'll get the cast off and be back to normal.

Tulip Time!

 I got the best gift for Mothers' Day! My tulips bloomed the day before. Something about watching things grow and bloom just excites me. I walk around my yard watching how much my plants have grown and counting the buds as I find them. I feel a little silly but I just love the anticipation of knowing that the beautiful colors will be coming soon.

Seven or eight years ago I planted lilac bush in my yard and waited and waited and waited for the amazing and intoxicating scent in the spring. About three years ago it got one rather disappointing bloom on it that lasted about a day. You can imagine my joy and pleasure this year at finding about thirty of these...

 on my bush! Finally after years of waiting I'm going to have lilacs on my bush! Wahoo!!!!!!

I also got for Mothers' Day this lovely sculpture made by Cutie. He was so cute as he kept asking me for more and more food to add to it. This kid is going to be an artist---or an engineer----I can't wait to see!

We've got the Power!

Today I sat and watched three of my favorite priesthood holders administer the sacrament. Alright, I know I shouldn't play favorites, and there are a lot of others who are right up there, but my husband and two sons have to be my favorites. I think this may be the first time in our almost 22 years of marriage that I have heard Stephen bless the sacrament, and to have Sonny Pie next to him, and DaVinci passing--wow, what a special day!

To Be and To Do

Last weekend was one of the highly looked-forward-to events in  our household. We spend time with family, play bingo with candy for playing pieces, shush the kids(a lot), and feel the spirit as we listen to the leaders of our church give us counsel. It's such a great weekend twice a year.

It's been a week since LDS General Conference and as I contemplate a message to put in my ward Relief Society newsletter I ask myself if listening to those eight hours of conference has made a change in me? Have I changed who I am as a result of the inspired words so that what I do will reflect more of the Savior? As I strive to become a Woman of God what things will I change in my life to become more like Him?

Will I keep the Sabbath more fully and allow it to enrich my life as Elder Perry counseled? Will I be one of the Incredible Women that Elder Cook spoke of or take more opportunities to do good as Elder Eyring suggests? Am I waiting on the Road to Damascus for a manifestation or am I actively seeking to know Christ and become like Him?

Being worthy and receiving revelation, attending the temple, building my marriage, seeking and accepting correction , so many good words of counsel received from these good men and women. How do I do them all? How do I internalize them and make them part of me? I believe the answer lies in the life of Jesus Christ who grew "grace for grace"(D&C 93:12). If I want to be An Ensign to the Nations I must choose one or two things at a time and always be improving and I can receive 'grace for grace' just as Jesus did. What better way is there to be like Him?

Attitude

Attitude is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than what other people think, say, or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness or skill. It will make or break a company, a church, a home.

The remarkable thing is, we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for the day. We cannot change our past. We cannot change the fact that people will act in a different way. We cannot change the inevitable. All we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude.

    -Charles Swindoll

The big 1-2!

 DaVinci's big day finally arrived. He has been planning and looking forward to his twelfth birthday for a very long time. So many things to decide--whether he wanted presents or just money, whether to get the priesthood on his birthday(which just happened to conveniently fall on a Sunday) or wait 'til the next week when maybe some family could come to be with us, whether to have a party or not. All of the decisions got made and DaVinci planned his own party and carried it out with no help from me except making the cake.

They played frisbee, Apples to Apples, and trampoline games. Davinci says it was a successful party so I guess it was!

The whole crew

Trampoline games

Busy times!

 Things are starting to pop around here---lots happening. Of course there is always a lot happening so I just couldn't skip over a few fun events over the last little while so here's a quick review:



Superstar doing the Boot Scootin' Boogie at the school dance program. Cutie got to do the chicken dance, but none of my pictures turned out.



DaVinci and Superstar getting their orange belts.



Pinewood Derby. Superstar got the award for the 'most outlandish' car. He asked me what that meant and I told him it was the most cool and crazy car. He thought that was great!



DaVinci at his winter orchestra concert. Wow! That sixth grade orchestra is good! How wonderful that our kids have the opportunity to be part of something exceptional without it costing us a fortune!



All the boys gathered around the piano singing songs from Newsies. This is a really blurry photo, but by the time I tried to take another one they caught me and wouldn't stay where they were. I just couldn't leave it out.

Icon ski night. The only pictures I took were of the snow sliding off the roof of the lodge. The pictures don't do it justice. It was hanging way out off the edge. The area was fenced off so it wouldn't fall on anyone.



Superstar in the 4th and 5th grade spelling bee. He is asking the judge to repeat the word since he pronounced "museum" really strangely.



Brothers! They are just so cute!

ZoomYummy!

I was searching for patterns to crochet a granny square bag and I came across this wonderful website/blog called ZoomYummy. It is so fun--lots of recipes and crafts(especially crochet patterns for simple things like slippers and bags). I'm going back there soon!

Off she goes!

Last night I watched my oldest and only daughter go through security and the airport all alone as she set off on an adventure that will expand her world. She's never had to find her way through an airport to catch a flight before. She's never been so far from home(from ME!) before.

I've been trying not to think about all of this too hard because I needed to be strong for her. She's had many sleepless nights and much anxiety about this trip. I couldn't let my anxiety be seen. So now that she can't see me I am typing this and crying.

I don't know what there is to cry about--she's been working and planning for this for a LONG time. She told us when she was three years old that she was going to go on a mission to China. In middle school and high school she insisted on eating with chopsticks much of the time. She took two years of Chinese in high school(she doesn't need to speak Chinese at all to qualify for this experience). I've encouraged her to go from the beginning. "You just don't know what's coming in the future so go while you can." On Monday night at our 'Going Away Party Family Night', we had some fortune cookies. We had to laugh when she read her fortune--"A long term goal is about to be fulfilled."

She and I have very different ways of preparing for things. I like to be ready well in advance and she likes to take her time. It took all the energy I had to keep my mouth closed and let her do things her way and she was ready when it was time to be ready.

At the airport there were about 50 other people in the group she is with, all going to China. There was someone there to show her where to check in so they could all be together. She got checked in but didn't go with the rest through security because a friend of hers wanted to meet her to say good-bye. We waited for him and saw him for a few minutes and by then the rest of her group were already gone to the gate. We couldn't go any further with her so she went through security and didn't look back. As I type this she is probably landing in Seoul Korea within the hour where she has a 22 hour layover. Tomorrow she has a short flight across the bay to Weihai China where she will be teaching English for the next 4 1/2 months.

Hopefully she'll be keeping us updated on her blog fizzlegiggle with pictures too! For now I just pray for her peace of mind as she embarks on this exciting and unnerving adventure.

A Dog Tale

For a very long time our children have been begging for a dog. I never objected but Stephen has always been very adamant that we not have one. Over about the last year he's been softening up on that resolve and even at Christmas time said how fun it would be to get a puppy and early Christmas morning put it inside a box and wrap it up so the kids would unwrap a puppy. That didn't happen, but last weekend Stephen said he thought having a dog would be really good for DaVinci so we should get one. We were all very shocked and surprised at that and we wasted no time in heading to the animal shelter to see what we could find.

This is Koda

He is black lab/heeler mix and a perfect dog. Seven months old, already house trained and fixed, and so well behaved. He never barked at all. We brought him home, went and bought a leash, food dish, dog food, etc., and began learning what it's like to have a dog. We all loved having him around.

Except for Cutie. Koda doesn't seem to know how to interact with someone so small. The information the shelter had said that he didn't do well with small children and should be with kids six and older. But maybe they need to be older than that. He kept biting Cutie's hand. I think he was trying to play with him four out of five times, but one of them seemed like a real bite and Cutie was really scared of Koda. So with very heavy hearts we took him back to the shelter after less than two days. If anyone has no small children and wants a perfect dog go to the Cache Humane Society and take Koda home with you!

We went back to look at the other dogs there and Koda was all excited and barking when he saw us. How can we ever find another dog so perfect, and perfect for Cutie too?

The Last Lap

Yesterday was the last home swim meet of the season. I've spent a LOT of time sitting by the pool timing at the meets over the last six years. Juice and then Sonny Pie have had such a great time. On one hand I am so glad to think of all the free time I will have now, and gas money since I won't need to drive up to USU to pick up Sonny Pie every day. Here are all the seniors from the team at the last meet.

On the other hand this marks the end of one time of my life(and Sonny Pie's) and the beginning of another which is a bittersweet feeling. Sonny Pie is really feeling the seriousness of choosing a career and becoming an adult with responsibilities. He's so smart, and creative, and charismatic that he will be successful at any career he chooses, but what to choose? I guess that's his challenge.

I am seeing my babies grow up and move on to bigger and better things. It's a wonderful and sort of sad feeling, but mostly exciting. What is in our future? What does Heavenly Father have in store? The only way to really know is to move forward with faith, putting our trust in Him, knowing He has a plan that will help us be happy. As we follow His plan we don't need to be fearful about the future. Heavenly Father will take care of that! Bring it on!

Making Tamales

Today I'm making tamales for the second time in my life. The first time was one year ago today on Juice's 19th birthday. She has had a habit of challenging my culinary skills when she chooses her birthday meals. Tamales are delicious! It sure would be nice if the hispanic man who comes around selling homemade tamales now and then would just happen to come by on Juice's birthday :)

Twenty years sounds so long ago but it seems like just a little while since the day I became a mother. I've been reminiscing about that wonderful, horrific, exciting, terrifying time----

We lived in Provo, Utah in a studio apartment that was part of an old house which had been remodeled into apartments. There was a carport in the back and no lighting at all back there. I was five days overdue and so ready(and scared) to deliver this baby. When we decided it was time to go we got in the car and backed out--and hit the landlord's(they lived upstairs) brother's car which was parked there. The car was black and it was night time and there was no lighting back there. That's a good excuse isn't it? So Stephen ran in and told them we hit them and came right back out. They didn't know we were on our way to the hospital at all until later.

We got all checked in at the hospital and in our room and what do you know but my labor wasn't progressing at all. It turned out that all of my labors were that way. But when the doctor came and broke my water things got going pretty quick. I hadn't wanted any medication, but I had never been through this before and when the real contractions started coming it didn't take too long for me to fold and get an epidural. Epidurals are great if you don't want to feel a thing. In fact this particular epidural was so strong that I went to sleep and slept all through my labor until about 6:00 the next morning when they were telling me to push. Of course I was awake so they could check me and all but mostly I got to sleep. So about 6:00 am they're telling me to push---the epidural was so strong I couldn't even move. I had to lift my legs with my hands or have Stephen help me to do anything. I had never had a baby before and I didn't know how to push one out. The nurses tried to tell me what to do but they had to stand next to me and push on my belly to help me. Finally at 6:45 am out popped our sweet little Juice--8 lbs. 6 oz.--she was so beautiful and perfect. We held her for a few minutes before the nurses whisked her off to the nursery to clean her up.

The next time we saw her she looked like this:

I got a phone call from the pediatrician after they got me moved to my recovery room saying that Juice had a problem. Her mouth had been very spitty and mucousy so the nurses were trying to suction it out. They tried to put a tube down her throat but it wouldn't go down. They sent juice to have an x-ray and found that she had tracheo esophogeo fistula. Her esophogus didn't go to her stomach as it should and she would need surgery right away to correct the problem. We spent an anxious day waiting for her to be finished with the operation. Truthfully, I'm not sure I even felt the gravity of the situation. I was fairly groggy after that super-strong epidural and I was just going along with what everyone said. But I knew that Juice would be OK. And she was. 

 

 She spent exactly one month in the NICU and finally got to come home. We had to carefully care for the incision from the surgery and go back for visits with the surgeon for about 8 months but there have been no ill effects since then and she has grown and developed so beautifully as you can see into this happy, strong, loving, kind woman. We are so glad to have her in our family!