Tim and Caroline Owens Family News

Julia's Fourth Birthday

2011-11-30T13:37:00.001-07:00

I can't believe it's been four years since that little girl changed our lives forever. She's such a little cutie. Just this morning she said the cutest thing. She was kissing her "babies" and "aminals" good-bye when we were on our way out the door. I commented on how she will be such a good Mommy some day, and she said, "Yep. And when I'm a Mommy, my kids will have plenty of aminals to play with." How does she know the word "plenty"? Such a little character.

I had surgery (I had my deviated septum on my nose corrected and a tonsillectomy. Not fun.), so while I was still recuperating, Lindsay threw Julia her birthday party. It was so fun. It was a Princess Party, of course. They read a story. They played games. They had face-painting and fishing for prizes.

Lindsay reading "The Frog Prince" to the crowd. Such a cute book about how beauty is in the eye of the beholder.

They were out of the Rapunzel and Princess Cake Kits at the grocery store, so Dad took her over to Dairy Queen. The gal made this one right Julia's specs.

Rileigh, Emma Sky, Emma G., Julia, Kirsten, Khloe, Sofia, Andie, Ellen

The Princess with all of her Princes and the Dragon:
Luke, Noah, Samuel, James, Max, Miles, Dane, and Wesley

Halloween 2011

2011-11-30T13:24:00.001-07:00

I'm finally catching up. Here we all are on Halloween.

Here we have the 3 werewolves, a monkey, a princess, and an octopus.

Here's the car-ful of Trick or Treaters on our way to the "good" part of our neighborhood. Lindsay had a few friends join us. It was a party!

I chuckled when I saw Tim taking a picture of this skeleton made entirely from milk jugs. It reminded us both of my Dad. One year he made the most awesome Darth Vader mask for my brother, Matt, out of a Clorox Bleach bottle.

We had a fun Halloween. The three olders weighed their candy bags when we got home. They each had about 7 pounds of candy. I'm glad we have a great dental plan. As usual, I was the worst behaved. I just want everyone to stay together, be perfectly well-behaved, etc. Sigh. It was hard to sort of let Lindsay go off with her friends. I even tried to sort of "guilt" her into staying with us: "Don't you want to see Calvin trick or treat?" Sad. Another highlight was watching Calvin. He got seriously into it. He insisted on knocking on the door himself. And he had to put the candy in his bag after each door. So cute.

My Trip with Tim

2011-11-30T13:18:00.001-07:00

We had the chance to take the trip of a lifetime. We figure it was an early celebration of our 15th wedding anniversary. We got to spend about a week in...Can you guess from these pictures?

Yes, it was Florence, Italy!! There is actually something dental in Florence: a laser manufacturer. They make a seriously cool CO2 laser that dentists use for gum surgeries. All of the pictures of the two of us are on his small computer at work, so I'll add them later. We had a great time.

Fall 2011

2011-11-05T17:00:00.000-06:00

I thought I'd keep with the season theme. "FALL". So much has happened since our trip to CA this summer.

Our Owens Cousins came to visit us on their way to drop off Lynette at BYU-Provo.

The kids started school. I'm one of those horrible moms who actually looks forward to school starting: the routine, less sitting around fighting, less frequent utterances of "I'm bored", etc. But every year I get blind-sided by how hard it is to get us all on that schedule. I was so pro-active this year. I took each school aged kid out by themselves to get their supplies (is anyone else perplexed at how every year that list gets longer and more expensive?) and have some lunch together. But even with the head-start, I still felt like it took us a good two weeks to get on the routine. Here they are on their first days. I've now got 2 in Middle School, 2 in Elementary School, and 1 in Preschool:

And 1 at home.

I love the four seasons. It somehow adds a rhythm to the year. So, after we've settled into school, we start looking forward. We notice the days get cooler. Then, we have to go get our pumpkins at the pumpkin farm.

Lindsay got her braces off.

You can see she has like 3 pairs of bands in just to try to make sure that the teeth really would be ready.

And, we carved the pumpkins.

Sorry for the long lapse in blogging. We're all still here.

Summer

2011-07-18T22:53:00.000-06:00

We just got home last night from three weeks at my parents' house in California. I don't have time for a full recap. Let's just say that my kids were in Cousin Heaven for the entire 3 weeks. Swimming with cousins, a zip-line with cousins, sleeping in the tree house with cousins, the beach with cousins, San Francisco with cousins...the list could go on and on. They seriously had so much fun. They love their cousins. I love that they love their cousins. I remember loving my cousins. Any amount of effort we went through was worth it.

Samuel holding the newest cousin: Tanner Soren Call. Samuel was so sweet. He kept asking if he could hold the baby.

Conner, Van, and Dean swimming.

Upside-down view of Calvin watching the action in the pool.

By some water falls in Gilroy Gardens: Van, Wesley, Dean, Miles, Julia, Calvin, Samuel, Lindsay.

Calvin, all asleep.

On a hike up to Look Out Point in Villa Montalvo. These were all the cousins who gathered, plus Aunt Leslie, who's holding Baby Zane. It was fun to take the kids on a hike that we all grew up on.

Wesley enjoying two quintessential Call Family Reunion 2011 objects: the balcony on Granpda Call's 4-story Tree House and popsicles.

Grandpa Call and Julia. Grandpa was on his "throne" that overlooked the pool area and the swimming grandchildren. He broke his leg on the second day of the reunion. Sooo sad. He was so great about it, though. He really tried to still have a good attitude and enjoy himself and the grandchildren despite the disappointment of not being about to enjoy it the way he imagined, of course. Notice the popsicle in Julia's hand.

Breakfast on the front porch

Lindsay and Mikaela at the piano. Two basically opposite young ladies who despite all their seeming differences love each other devotedly.

We found a guitar for Matt to play for us.

This was on July 3rd, the day we gathered for Tanner Soren's Baby Blessing. Awwww.

It was really hot July 3rd. Poor Uncle Dan, he's too hot and tired to notice that cute niece just waiting for some attention.

How beautiful is my nephew, Clive?

This is such a great picture: tiny newborn innocently sleeping, proud grandparents contentedly looking on, kids and grandkids making mischief in the background.

The marble tracks were serious business: Van, Dean, and Samuel.

Singing "Happy Birthday" to Lindsay. I am now officially the mother of a teenager, but let's be honest here. She's basically had the temperament and the independent streak of a teenager for, uh, let's see...um, 13 years now.

He loves watermelon.

Wrestling on the front lawn: Conner and Wesley. I think they were both still smiling at this point. That was a temporary situation.

Dinner on the front lawn: Seth (Hulme), Tate, Dalton, Conner, Jacob (I think) and Miles.

Um, is that my precious little three year old way up there on that zip line?

My heart still skips a beat even just looking at this picture. I had to sort of block out the whole zip line thing. It was a little too much for me. Let's just say I was definitely relieved when Uncle Dan finally took it down last week.

the Annual Soccer Game on the front lawn: Shawn (Hulme), Seth (Hulme), Brandon, Clive, Uncle Matt, Conner, Uncle Dan, Miles, Hudson, Dalton

Samuel and Clive

the front porch after the older boys slept out there

So those were from the first few days of the Reunion, but I can't find the other pictures. And it's getting late. I need to catch up on some sleep more than I need to catch up on this blog. Good night.

Father's Day 2011 Preview

2011-06-16T23:01:00.000-06:00

So here's this year's edition of our Father's Day Photo. What do you get the man who already has everything (and wouldn't want you to spend money on anything even if he actually did need something)? A picture of his adorable kids. I used some advice on how to edit pictures from this blog. You have to look back into her May posts to find the Q & A that talks about photography, but it's worth the look. She is amazing at photography and so willing to share her tips. I downloaded the free 30-day trial of Lightroom. We're thinking about getting some form of Photoshop, too. We'll see.

We came home from a Puppet Show at the Library tonight to find almost ping pong ball sized hail all over our yard. We all immediately ran to the backyard to see how our garden had fared. Amazingly, our baby tomato plants were all still intact. I'm seriously feeling like that was no small miracle. All the kids were thinking it was amazing, too. Lindsay said something like, "Yah, if it can survive us, it can survive any hailstorm." Then, Samuel added, "Yah, a couple weeks ago Julia was just digging in the garden." Nice. I guess we have protection from hailstorms and 3 year old naughty-pants. Is there much difference between those two?

And.....there's a one year old in the house...

Yah, I know, I know. They all look exactly the same. I guess when you've got a good thing going, why change it, right?

I'll Tell You What Crazy Is...

2011-03-14T21:24:00.002-06:00

In January, on my trip home, I went out to dinner with my brother, Dan, and his wife, Marni. We were with some other friends, too. They were recently engaged and will be blending their families. They were talking about how wild it could be when all of their kids got together. I think together they would have five kids within a few years of each other in age. They said, "Yep, it can be pretty crazy sometimes." Then, my brother chimed in, "I'll tell you what's crazy: Caroline's house at Christmas." He had just spent some days of Christmas vacation at our house, and I guess it seemed pretty crazy to him.

I'm not gonna lie. It is crazy around here. Let me just describe the scene that pushed me over the edge (after staring down the edge several times during today, the first day of Spring Break) tonight. (It's also the reason Tim is avoiding me downstairs right now. Sigh...) While I was nursing the baby upstairs in the rocking chair, Lindsay was downstairs finishing making pudding for the Family Home Evening treat. It was Julia's turn for the lesson, but Lindsay wanted to help her to get credit for a Value Experience for Young Women. As I finish feeding the baby, I hear, "Oh no! Mom, I think I burned it." I hurry down the stairs, deposit the baby in her arms, and check the pudding. All is well. While she helps with the baby, I start dinner. Miles attempts practicing the piano, but he gives up and heads outside after minimal effort. Multiple children pour in and out of the back door with various amounts of dirt and sweat (It's been warm this week. Spring is coming!!) covering them. Dad gets home. The soup has another 10 minutes of simmering before I add the pasta. I convince Miles to come back inside for another try at the piano. He takes 5 minutes to come inside. I decide I'll sit down and play while I wait for him (My therapist says that one way to encourage your children's interest in any task is to show them your own enjoyment...doesn't work with my kids, but I still give it a try now and then...). He finally saunters in and impatiently waits while I put away my music. We sit down to practice (I know, I know. Why don't I let them practice themselves? Well, that ended successfully 15 minutes ago on his first try, AND I've tried to let them do it themselves. I let Lindsay play her recital piece on her own last Spring, and then, I got to listen to it played wrong for 2 months!!! It almost killed me. I find if I just sit with them for the first two or so days of the week, their accuracy improves tons. Judge me. I dare you.) Anyway, I'm trying to drag myself through all the attitude that my 10 year old can muster and remain calm enough to help him successfully play through a song that I now see he's had for 2.5 months, when the multiple children who have been coming in and out decide to fight over a game right next to us. The noise distracts my highly distract-able 10 year old boy, and I find myself getting drained of the last bits of emotional energy in me. Then, Lindsay comes in and, panicked, informs me that the Library has sent her $42 bill to a collection agency, and Dad expects her to pay for it. System overload. Dam breaks. Mother starts to yell.

Even in writing this down it doesn't seem like that much, but the situation just totally overwhelmed me at the time. The sad part is, Miles shaped right up: no more attitude, totally focused, finished his lesson successfully in no time. Why can't he do that before I totally lose it?

Well, now the baby's crying. He's supposed to be asleep. I hope he's not up 4 times with a fever again tonight like he was last night. Or wait, it was Calvin 3 times, and Julia once. Well, up once, but in our bed for 30 minutes tossing and turning, until I couldn't take it any more and kicked her out back into her own bed. Do you think maybe my lack of sleep is the cause for all of my overwhelmedness? I know that's not a word, but it just feels good to say. Kind of like "unwearyingness" from the Book of Mormon.

Good night! Here's hoping for a better day tomorrow.

On Being A Mother To Kids That Are Way Too Smart

2011-03-09T21:41:00.000-07:00

Okay, I had a total moment of "Who is this strong spirit that I get to parent?" the other night. I had another one of those "emotional tailspin" kind of days last Saturday that lasted through Sunday evening. Loud kids + messy house = cranky Mom, is usually the status quo around here. Saturday, though, it seems that poor Tim had had enough. Loud kids + messy house + cranky Mom = Dad ~~criticizing~~ pointing out the truth about Mom's crankiness and how much it is a drain on everyone = Mom going into a massive emotional down spiral. So, I tried the silent treatment (can you even imagine me being successful at that?) Anyway, then we had Stake Conference. Enough said. Finally, I had a choir performance. That might have been what finally broke my yuckiness. By Sunday evening, I was in repair mode. I was also feeling sorry and wanted to apologize to my kids. I sort of pulled each one of them aside and apologized and asked forgiveness of them. Aren't kids amazing at being forgiving? Anyway, I finally got to Lindsay. A simple apology didn't seem enough for her, so I thought I'd be a little more explanatory. I said something like, "Linds, I may not be the perfect mother, but I am a really good example to you of someone who falls down, gets back up off the floor, brushes herself off, and tries again." She replied, "Yes, but sometimes you like to writhe around on the ground a little while you're down there." Yes, folks. My 12 year old pretty much knows me as well as my therapist. I couldn't believe it. I've had a good laugh every time I've thought of her wise analysis of my behavior. Sometimes I feel so lucky to be the mother to this wildly strong young woman. Wow. She has taught me a lot over the past 12 1/2 years.

You know me. I always have to put a picture in. This is the picture that is in the ad that Tim has running in the local newspaper. We had it taken last summer out in New York. If the battery hadn't died on my camera this morning, I'd have some pictures from Julia and Wesley's Ballet classes. It was Parent Observation Week. They both did a great job and have learned a lot.

Where have I been?

2011-03-02T21:54:00.000-07:00

I know you've all been wondering where I've been. I was actually on a roll there for a while with regular posting. I have to remember that you are now checking this blog, Grandma Helen, then I will remember to be more regular at posting.

Well, what's been happening? I went out to Provo for a week to visit my sister, Catherine. She just recently had the brain bleed and is still recuperating. It was so great to see her. Her mother-in-law, who by the way is an angel and has been there for over a month taking care of everything, said that Catherine perked right up whenever I came over. I just stayed at my Aunt Tami's house which is right around the corner from Catherine's house. It was ideal. I would wake up, get Julia and Calvin some breakfast (the school aged kids stayed home with Tim's Office Manager, Riana, as their babysitter), and head over to see what Catherine was up to. We'd usually go get something yummy for lunch then head back to our respective houses for nap-time. Then meet up again to go get something yummy for dinner. There are so many good places to eat in Provo. YUM!!! But, I do have to say that their cupcake place is not as good as our Buttercream Cupcakery here in Fort Collins. Don't worry, that didn't stop me from polishing off the dozen that I, er, Tim bought me for my birthday. (Tim's so tolerant. I always come home with things I've bought for myself from him. Hey, what can I say? I know the guy's busy and extremely money-spending averse, so I save him the time and trouble and buy it for myself...) I didn't have my camera with me in Provo, or I did but I didn't use it at all. She took a picture of us together. You know, she had to have her head shaved from the brain troubles. She still looks gorgeous, too. You can check out the picture of her new do on her blog here.

Then, it seems like all last week was spent recovering from being gone for a week. And, I have no excuse for why I haven't blogged this week except that it's just the same ol', same ol' around here. Keeping people fed and clothed. Putting out fires and putting on band-aids.

Miles had an Autobiography due this last week. In going through some pictures of him, I could NOT believe the resemblance between Calvin and him. I know Calvin looks like all the boys, but I think he looks the most like Miles. Wesley always had those cheeks. Samuel has a little something different about his nose and face shape. Calvin and Miles are seriously the same. I could never tell the pictures of them apart. (Except for the fact that all of Miles' pictures are non-digital)

Here are some pictures that I haven't posted yet in other posts but that don't necessarily go with anything I've said today. I just can't blog without putting in a picture.

Wesley playing school and dress-up with Lindsay as the teacher and ringleader

a picture of Julia that Lindsay took from the top bunk looking down at Julia with her blankie where it usually is when she's trying to walk and go somewhere while holding it

the cutest little sous chef, note: those blue sweats were given to us for Lindsay almost 13 years ago from a dear friend in PT school. Seriously, they've lasted through SIX KIDS!!

What is the fascination?

2011-02-12T13:00:00.001-07:00

I had my sewing machine and all its trimmings out. I hadn't realized that you could use a sewing machine to sew the badges on Cub Scout shirts. It really wasn't that hard. Boy, I sure had a lot of catching up to do. Later that week, my sewing stuff was still strewn around my bedroom, and I saw this:

As you can see, this is my cute little strawberry pin cushion with the word "poo" arranged in pins. At one point last month, I even saw all the icons on the computer's desktop arranged to form the word "poo". I'm not kidding.

I guess it stems from way back when I was a new parent. I was determined that my little angel wouldn't say such inappropriate words as "poo" or "pee". Yes, I'll admit, if you promise not to make fun of me too much (and you know who you are), I decided that in our household we'd refer to those bodily functions as "BM" and "urinate". I can't even really write it down without sort of chuckling to myself. What was I thinking? No, not really. I think back to that idealistic mother of twelve and a half years ago with fondness and sometimes even longing.

So, fast forward to today. My kids are now all obsessed with the word "poo". Okay, okay. I know it could just be the "I'm a 5th grade boy, and nothing is funnier to me than potty humor", but I still somehow find a way to take the blame. Meanwhile, Julia, newly potty-trained, runs around the house, grabbing between her legs, and yells, "I have to go pee!" when she's gotta go. Ahhh, how we learn to let some things slide with maturity, age, or well, let's just be honest, with being beaten down by all these kids who automatically obsess on anything that I say "don't" to! :)

But alas, all is not lost. When I want a guaranteed, natural smile for any picture, any time, all I have to do is say "poo" myself, and my kids erupt into laughter. All those cute pictures where they're all miraculously, simultaneously smiling? More likely than not they've just heard their mother say "the word".

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-12T09:55:00.011-07:00

I know it was last week, but I've wanted to share this fortune for so long. A few months ago we got Chinese take-out for dinner. The kids all love to read their fortunes. Usually they are the average, run of the mill fortunes like: You have the gift of wisdom and love, or whatever.

But here was Wesley's that night:

We all cracked up. What kind of a fortune is that? I guess if it were your birthday it would be appropriate. I had it hanging up on our bulletin board for the last few months, and whenever I saw it, I would get a chuckle again. Wesley has such a cute sense of humor. It was perfect that he got this fortune, because it cracked him up the most. He'd laugh again anytime we mentioned it.

So, Happy New Year! Almost a week late.

Let's Talk about...Self-Talk

2011-02-11T09:54:00.001-07:00

My senior year of high school I had a class called "Exploring Childhood". We learned about child development for the first 4-6 weeks of school, and then, we ran an actual pre-school that people from the community would bring their 3-4 years old to for us to teach. It remains one of my favorite classes. After the year was over, I think I got the "Most Likely to Work with Children" Award. Who knew that someday I'd get to "work with" 6 children of my own? Anyway, in that class there was a series of books called "Let's Talk about..." , followed by topics suitable to 3-4 year olds: sharing, kindness, feelings, etc. My personal favorite was "Let's Talk about Being Destructive". I don't know. It just sort of struck me as funny, even today.

So, today I wanted to do a post about the title of a book that should be written for Moms: "Let's Talk about Self-Talk". Seriously, if you're anything like me, the self-talk gets pretty negative. I've found myself realizing that the most common phrases that go through my mind are: "I cannot survive this moment.", (cue sarcastic tone) "That's exciting.", and "I'm such a failure. There I go again." I use these phrases multiple times a day in my mind. When Julia has "helped" bring in the milk and dropped it, causing the glass jar to explode like a bomb all over the front entryway rug. "That's exciting." When Wesley needs to scribble his name on 23 Valentine's cards, Samuel has a spelling test to cram for, Miles is late for play practice, and Julia is screaming at the top of her lungs because she wants her own Valentines, I say to myself, "I cannot survive this moment."

Okay, so the "That's exciting." comment isn't so bad. Sometimes it's nice to be able to deal with life's little explosions with a little bit of humor/sarcasm. But the "I cannot survive this moment." and the "I'm such a failure." comments are counter-productive. I mean, I've had a lot worse moments than the one that happened during Morning Routine today, and I'm still here, i.e. I did survive those moments. And, I don't fail at everything. (Hey, I remembered to decorate and send back the little heart that Samuel's teacher sent home for me to decorate as a surprise for him during his class Valentine's Day party. Pretty darn amazing considering the morning we had around here.) I think we so often get into these negative cycles as mothers and women. My life coach (okay, therapist) said that there's actually a little bit of a certain hormone (I can't remember which, but it's not good for you) that gets released in our brain every time we have a negative thought. But, guess what? Every time we have a positive thought, the opposite is true.

So, how do we get ourselves to re-frame how we experience our stressful moments, thus leading us to say something positive and up-lifting, if not at least kind to ourselves? Well, it's just a habit. Also, it's just sort of one of those GI Joe things, too. You know, "That's right kids. And knowing is half the battle." (Was I the only one who got a more than healthy dose of GI Joe episodes on Saturday mornings during the 80s? Blame it on my 6 brothers, I guess.) Honestly, though, it is just sometimes a matter of realizing what we're doing and purposefully choosing to say something positive. It could be as simple as saying, "I can survive this moment." "I'm just the eye of the storm."

I like to think of what Julie Beck said at last April's General Conference (a twice yearly general meeting for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints) in her talk titled "And upon the Handmaids in Those Days Will I Pour Out My Spirit" which you can find here: "For instance, mothers can feel help from the Spirit even when tired, noisy children are clamoring for attention, but they can be distanced from the Spirit if they lose their temper with children."

If during those stressful moments, I can somehow manage to remain calm, I will not only survive, but I can receive divine help to know how to best help everyone involved in the situation. If I'm silently berating or degrading or under-estimating myself, I think I'm less likely to feel or hear or recognize the ways the Spirit might be trying to help me. And I'm much more likely to lose my temper with my children if my mantra is "I can't" than if it is "I can...with His Help."

I'm going to try to change my self-talk. And so, to all five of you, my readers, :) let's come up with some positive things we can say to ourselves. Share with me the ones that help you.

Here are some others that I like (but don't use often enough):

"Just keep calm and carry on."
from a campaign that the British gov't used during WWII.

"Breathe in through your nose, and breathe out through a straw."
from me, trying to get an overly-upset child to stop hyperventilating. It actually works very well. Sometimes we even go get a straw.

"Just keep swimming. Just keep swimming."
from Dory in "Finding Nemo"

"I am right in the middle of everything I always dreamed of having."
from a sweet friend in the ward

January 2011

2011-01-31T14:36:00.000-07:00

Wow! I am on a roll with this blogging stuff this week. I guess the fact that I know my mother-in-law looked at it this weekend with Tim and loved it is inspiring me to be more diligent.

It's snowing outside and a balmy 14 degrees when we just drove home from lunch with Daddy. I'm still deciding if it's my extreme and sometimes illogical optimism that makes me enjoy the four seasons of Colorado, or if I'm just trying to fake myself into being happy somewhere with four seasons after having grown up in "Weather Nirvana" (read: the San Francisco Bay Area, South Bay to be exact) where it's basically between 50 and 80 degrees for 95% of the year. I guess I'll never know. I'll just keep enjoying the beautiful whiteness and quiet outside my window (which is a stark contrast to what's usually happening inside my window...).

We've had quite a month here at the Owens' Home. The Holidays ended, and we headed into 2011. On January 5, my Mom had a re-do of the foot surgery she had last Spring that wasn't totally successful. She'll be non-weight baring again for 3 months. On January 6, Tim's Dad, Grandpa Joe, had major back surgery. My Mom recovered nicely from her surgery, mostly due to the fact that she already knew what to expect having just lived through the horrible procedure 8 months earlier. Grandpa Joe's "recovery" was awful. Any pain medication they put him on gave him a bad reaction: delirious, trying to rip out IVs, etc. So they just had him on Tylenol. Tylenol? He had a 17" incision on his back, two vertebra fused together, and a rod put in his spine. He's finally home now after a week in the hospital and two weeks in an extended care facility.

Then, on January 7, we got some horrible news. A dear friend had died suddenly from a congenital heart condition he hadn't known about. Matt Empey was one of my best friends' older brother and my older brother, Dan's, best friend. It was such a shock. The Empeys have been such an important, positive influence on so many families. We all gathered to celebrate his life over the holiday weekend of the 17th. Matt was an ER physician, the favorite uncle, the big brother, brilliant, a great friend. I just can't really imagine how the world could possibly go on without him.

I had just gotten home from the weekend in CA and sort of started to get back into the routine of daily life when I got a call last Monday night. My Mom told me that Keith, my brother-in-law, had called an ambulance for Catherine, my sister. She had sudden onset of excruciating pain in the back of her head. When they got her to the hospital, the preliminary scans seemed to show a ruptured brain aneurysm. They sped her to the bigger hospital in Provo. They had to shave her head and put in a drain to stop the swelling from damaging her brain. Later that day, they discovered that it had not been a ruptured brain aneurysm but just rupturing of blood vessels (smaller than a main artery/vein) at the back of her head. She stayed in the ICU for another 5 days to be monitored and to try to get the pain under control. She's now in a normal wing of the hospital, but the pain is still unbearable. Nothing really touches it.

So, here I sit blogging about this wild month. I think I'm just sort of using this chance to write it down as a moment to process it all. It's helping me feel less worried that my house is a disaster area. Well, okay, it's not too bad. I mean, it's definitely been worse, but I just feel so behind on everything. I feel like I've spent more time on the phone in the last three weeks than I have since middle school. On the one hand, it's been a luxury to talk so frequently to people that I love so much: my sisters-in-law, "old" friends (meaning friends from 20+ years ago, we're not 40 yet :)), my parents, my sister, my brothers, my cousins. On the other hand, it's always been about such heavy stuff. It's made us all think, "Hey, why don't we take the time to talk to each other in the good times, too?". Why did it have to take a brother's funeral for all of us to get together again after talking about it for 5+ years? So, this month has been mixed with sadness and blessings. I guess that's just how most months are, if you think about it.

A great thought from Ward Conference yesterday: (Ward Conference is an annual meeting of our congregation (our Ward) with leaders from the Stake (the entity that is formed by all the Wards in the town of Fort Collins. There are about 8 congregations here.)

Our Bishop (the lay leader (or unpaid volunteer) of our congregation) was giving us some spiritual advice. His theme for the year is: Building Our Faith in Four Ways - 1.Pray 2.Study 3.Obey 4.Serve. Under "obey" he discussed how we need to be careful what we consider our "burdens" and how we share those with others. For instance, he has a good friend who is a billionaire. This friend complains about how much of a burden it is to have to find appropriate tax shelters for his millions of dollars. Also, the Bishop has another friend who always complains about how hard it is to pack for her annual trip to Hawaii. The congregation sort of chuckled. Obviously, he said, most of us wouldn't consider those two things a burden. But it made me think. What do I do that is similar in my life? Then, the thought came to me. My six children are worth more than millions of dollars and are more valuable to me than a week's vacation, and yet I complain about them as if they were a burden sometimes. I know there are some people out there who could only dream of the joy, blessings, happiness, and love that come from these six monkeys who drive me so crazy most days. It was a great way to re-think. What a blessing they are to me. Sure, it's loud. It's messy. But I really wouldn't trade it for anything. Not even for millions of dollars or a trip to Hawaii.

So, in some ways, good riddance to January 2011. But also, thank you to January 2011. You've helped me re-align or re-think some things.

Now, why is that baby crying? I put him down for his nap only a half hour ago. He usually takes a 2 to 2.5 hour nap. I'm off...

Here's what Saturday morning looked like, watching cartoons. Lindsay was still in bed. She is, after all, almost a teen-ager.

Tomorrow there will be a high of -2 degrees, but on Saturday it was 58. That's shorts and t-shirt weather around here. The kids were outside most of the day, enjoying the trampoline in the sunshine. Calvin even got a taste of it when Miles put his bouncy seat outside.

The kids always bring out their radio. Here's Julia dancing to Michael Jackson, the kids' favorite even before June of 2009, as the kids always make sure to point out.

The Group Shot. I love the girls' hair.

I guess Lindsay must have been experimenting with the different settings on her camera. I love that Calvin has already been conditioned like a Pavlov dog: when you see one strange light, another, very bright one will surely follow. Close your eyes in anticipation of the second very bright light. Even with his eyes closed, still so cute.

When the Cats Are Away...

2011-01-29T23:38:00.001-07:00

I was at a Relief Society Meeting. Tim was at Bishopric Visits. And, well, the kids were...see for yourself. For the record, Julia and Calvin were tucked in bed before we left.

Really? Costumes and everything?

Would you believe Miles actually came home sick from school that day?

For the record: it's 11:30pm, I've added 4 new blog posts, and there are still 3 loads of laundry on my bed. I could never get away with this if Tim were in town. I'm justifying doing this because I know he'll look at it with his Mom tomorrow before he heads to the airport to come home and rescue us all from ourselves. Love you two out there in snowy Arcade, NY. Hurry home, hon. We need you!!!

The Beginning of The End...

2011-01-29T23:31:00.000-07:00

He's thinking about it:

Some pictures, too. My personal favorite is when he is "up on all fives". Two knees, two hands, and his forehead. So adorable. I love when he gets that look on his face like, "I know I'm so smart..."

More Holiday Fun

2011-01-29T23:27:00.000-07:00

We had a lot of fun when Uncle Dan was here. The highlight was probably when it snowed, and we pulled the kids behind the car on sleds (only on back, backroads). They all loved it.

Everyone having fun on the trampoline.

Ready to go!

How cute are goggles on little faces?

Samuel all ready.

The girls

Fun

2011-01-29T23:23:00.001-07:00

How do you get more pictures of your 6th child than you have of your 1st child? Give your 1st child a camera for Christmas. She's really good, too. Of course, being able to sort through and use only the best because it's all digital helps, too. This is my first try at a photo collage. I know it turned out funky. I'll try to re-do it later, but for now, you get the idea...

She also likes action shots. Nothing is funnier to her than capturing someone in the middle of a "move".

You can almost see Julia's tonsils.

Wesley mid-bite

This is her beneath that mess of hair.

Samuel's Birthday and Baptism

2011-01-27T21:53:00.000-07:00

Yes, I have a child who was born the day after Christmas. It's all my fault, too, because I had an induction. See, Tim only had two weeks off between semesters in Dental School. His Mom worked. My Mom felt like she needed to be home that Christmas because of some family stuff that had happened that year. Tim was the only back-up plan that I had. If I stayed pregnant any longer, I'd have him to help me for fewer days. The kid was 9 lb 13 oz, so it wasn't like he wasn't ready. I always joke that he was so big because he must have been pre-diabetic or something, and still, left to his own devices, he would consume only sugar (plus some fats). Anyway, he entered our world 8 blessed year ago the day after Christmas. What an important part of our family he is. That propensity for sweets almost seems to affect his personality. He has always been so sweet-natured and even-tempered. I'm getting choked up just thinking about that precious little guy. And he never was very little. He's close to passing up Miles in height, and they're two and half years apart. He was washing his hands the other day, and my heart skipped a beat. They are almost as big as mine. The other day he stood up next to our growth chart where we measure the kids every New Year's Eve, and he had already grown a half inch! No wonder he wakes up with leg aches.

So, his birthday celebrations this year were pretty low key. The 26th was on a Sunday this year. We had lots of fun with Grandma and Grandpa being here. Also, the photographer was still in recovery mode, so we don't have that many pictures. Oh well.

Here are some pictures:

This is his bed decorated for the big birthday morning. Do you love Wesley in the bottom corner? I guess his Christmas PJs were too hot? And don't judge me that their beds are all a mess. I have my reasons...

With his birthday present: Nano Hex Bugs or something

"Happy Birthday to you..." We had soooo many treats in the house that I didn't feel right about making or buying more cake. He loves pumpkin pie, so it worked.

Eight candles on one piece of pie!

Digging in!!

Love that face!!

He was baptized at our Stake Baptism which is held the first Saturday of each month. The first Stake Baptism after his birthday happened to be on New Year's Day: 1-1-11. Grandma and Grandpa Call were still here, and Uncle Dan also got to be here. It was a special day.

My favorite memory from the day was when I first saw Samuel all dressed in white. We had arrived early, so that he and Tim could change. I was holding the baby in the chapel, sitting by my parents. I turned around to see Tim and Samuel walking in all in white. He looked like an angel. It took my breath away. He was so excited. I'll never forget that moment.

The Whole Group: Lindsay, Grandpa Call, Grandma Call, Wesley, Tim, Samuel, Mom, Calvin, Julia, Uncle Dan, Miles

My family growing up had the tradition that we would go out to eat at a restaurant of your choosing the day you got baptized. With my parents visiting and all, I thought it would be fun to keep up that tradition. Sameul chose The Olive Garden.

Christmas 2010

2011-01-22T22:26:00.000-07:00

Christmas was great this year. Some things weren't ideal, but that's how it goes sometimes. I was just looking through our pictures and realized that we don't have that many. Tim had a minor surgery on the 23rd and was in bed for a few days afterwards. He's usually our photographer. With him out of commission, we didn't get some of our classic pictures. No picture of all the kids in their Christmas PJs on Christmas Eve. No pictures of the tree with all the presents underneath it after Santa's visit. Oh well. One thing that made it extra special was that Grandma and Grandpa Call got to spend the whole week with us. But sadly, there are no pictures of them, either. Sigh.

My favorite moments from Christmastime this year:

When I went to get out my special Nativity, I was unwrapping each piece extra carefully. Julia was, of course, entranced. Each new animal or person was inspected and set down on the table. When I unwrapped the baby Jesus, she just took in a deep breath and with all the awe and wonder in a three year old's voice whispered, "Oh, it's the baby Jesus." She took him in her little hands and looked at him reverently. It was such a sweet moment. I think I frequently underestimate the ability of my children, even the small ones, to feel and understand the things of the Spirit.

Christmas morning is brutal at our house. We make the kids eat breakfast, and Tim insists on "interviewing" each one of them on video before they can open any presents. So, by the time we were ready for opening presents, the baby was really ready to go down for his morning nap. It was so funny, though, because as soon as he saw what we were doing, he totally got his second wind. He was all about opening presents and even sat and played happily for about another hour. So adorable. Again, I think they know so much more than we give them credit for.

Miles got a motorized scooter for Christmas this year. We, er, Santa didn't notice that the battery needed to be charged for 15 hours. That put the first time that he could ride at about 4pm on Christmas Day. He waited somewhat patiently. When it finally came time for his first ride, he was so excited. The look of pure joy on his face as he flew down the rode. He had his back arched, and his face was plastered with a smile. He was in heaven. It was so great.

Here are some pictures. (Helen, I'm one post closer to getting to Samuel's Baptism...)

Unfocused, but you still get the idea of what Christmas morning looked like.

Here he is enjoying his presents even though he's super tired.

Julia is opening her new doll house. Do you love the look of excitement on Samuel's face? Isn't it great to be a big brother?

Wesley getting in on the action.

Who looks more excited, Samuel or Miles?

Mr. Enthusiasm even before he opened his scooter.

We felt like we had to prep the older kids that because their presents now cost more than the little kids' presents that "Santa" would most likely get them fewer. She was still ecstatic over her camera.

Here's Miles on his scooter. This isn't the exact moment when he first road it, but you can still see how much he loves it.

Merry Christmas, Tim!

2011-01-20T15:55:00.000-07:00

Tim went to San Antonio in December for some Continuing Ed. Apparently, there was a Santa just waiting for someone to take a picture with him. Tim said that he thought to himself, "Why not? I've got nothing better to do with the next 15 minutes while I wait for my flight." He showed this to me, and I seriously cracked up. The Santa looks pretty legitimate in this. I was just looking at the picture the other day and saw that there was a $20 coupon for a Southwest flight included. Nice. We used it last night for the flight he's taking home next weekend.

Service and Santa

2011-01-19T22:25:00.000-07:00

Samuel's class decided to do some service for their Christmas Party this year. They made some ornaments and cards for the Alzheimer's patients at a nearby nursing home. It was sweet to go with the kids to drop off the stuff. The kids did really well trying to talk to the residents. I've always felt like this could be a way for them to develop their talents, because each of them has been blessed with a kind heart and empathy for others (not necessarily for each other, but for others. You get what I mean...). Anyway, I'm glad we got this opportunity and hope to go back soon.

On a completely different note, the nursing home happened to have one of the creepiest Santas I've ever encountered. He insisted on taking pictures with the kids. Like really insisted. It's making me cringe even thinking about it again. He even "forced" me into a picture. As we were leaving, Miles was so funny. He said, trying not to be mean, "Mom, was that Santa, like, normal?" Trust your instincts, buddy. No, he wasn't.

Here's the group with Santa:
Samuel, Julia, Wesley, Noah, Miles, Tyler, Reagan

Maybe I shouldn't have judged him too quickly. Really, who wouldn't want to hold my sweet little baby...On second thought, get your hands off my baby!

Then, he seriously grabbed me for this picture. I just gave in and told Miles to take a picture fast, so we could get outta there. Poor guy, maybe he's lonely.

Even though I look horrid here, I just had to add this adorable picture with Calvin in this festive hat. Last year my Mom sent up this package of some of the old snow stuff we used to use on our ski trips to Utah when I was a kid. They are seriously classic 70's stuff. When my Mom was out here at Christmas, she said that her Aunt Dorothy had made this one.

Gingerbread Houses

2011-01-19T22:08:00.000-07:00

I know I'm late, but I'm trying to get to Samuel's Baptism pictures for Grandma Helen. Sorry, Helen. I've got to sort of do this in order, or it'll never get done.

Some years I delude myself into thinking that making Gingerbread Houses from scratch could be a fun activity to do with the kids. This year, I didn't even let myself go there. While out at Target on another errand, I noticed they had four different types of Gingerbread Creations, and I bought one of each in anticipation of a neighborhood gingerbread party that the gal two doors down was planning. It was stressful enough putting those things together. The kids also made some at school. Here they are...

Here's the one Miles made at school.

Samuel's from school. I found out later that one of the Dad's who was "helping" for the day dumped the remaining candy into Samuel's gingerbread house. As if this boy needs any encouragement to eat more candy...

A cute picture of the drooler...

Wesley's creation from the neighborhood gingerbread house-making party. I think he had fun. What do you think?

Miles in the process of creating. His got very ornate by the end and very beautiful, if I do say so myself...

Lindsay and Julia's creation

Samuel's tipsy train. He started pouring the candy into the train at the end here, too. Thanks, Mr. Campbell.

The whole gang that gathered at the Spagnuola's house:
Winter, Robbie, Julia, Charlie, Noah, Calvin, Lindsay, Luke, Miles, Reagan, Samuel, Tyler.
I don't know where Wesley was for this picture.

O, Christmas Tree!

2011-01-03T19:44:00.000-07:00

Sometimes I feel like we have no real family traditions. We spent so many years in school sort of free-loading on all the holidays with my parents or Tim's parents. They were great years, but it's made it so that we don't really have something that we've done since "our first Christmas together". Anyway, when we finally moved here to Colorado, we thought for our first Christmas here, we would do the Colorado thing and head up to the mountains and cut our own. Well, it was a total bust, and we ended up coming home without one. The snow was like 18" deep; the wind chill factor was probably 5 degrees. Add to that the 60+ minute drive, and you can see why we sort of amended that "tradition" to the "pick your tree up at the grocery store parking lot" tradition. So, for the last 5 years we've done that. It's fun. They come all wrapped up, and we have sort of an unveiling moment when we get home and unravel it.

This year we actually went to The Home Depot.

before the unveiling

Then, just because I know Grandma Helen is reading this lately, here are some other pictures from the past couple of weeks.

The Human Sandwich: this little game started when Lindsay and Miles were probably about 4 and 2. It's always a crowd favorite. Here it's with Samuel, Wesley, and Julia.

I'm Married to an Old Man...

2011-01-03T19:30:00.000-07:00

This was at a Christmas Party that a family at the kids' school puts on every year. They have so many lights it's unreal. About 25 minutes after we got there, the transformer blew from all of the electricity they were using. My Boy Scout just went right out to the car and got his headlamps. We could still see to eat some goodies before heading home.

Here he is with his birthday cake. Instead of putting 40 candles on it, we put the candles in the form of a forty. He's perfected the art of looking stoned in pictures. I know. It's a great picture, but it's the only one we took. Happy birthday, Daddy. We love you!

It's official. I'm married to an old man. Tim turned 40 on December 19th. He is very low key about birthdays. He told me over and over again that he didn't want anything special for his 40th. He didn't even want any special gifts. He said all that he wanted was for us to all be nice and peaceful for his birthday. Nothing like hoping for the impossible. Really, it would have been easier to go spend a few bucks. Well, we tried to honor his birthday wish, and I think we were pretty successful.

Here they all are in their Christmas outfits.

We had to go to Church early for the Choir's Christmas program. Lindsay, Miles, and Samuel sang in the ward choir with me. It was a lot of fun. A few people commented on how cute it was to see so many from our family up there. I had to tell them that my cute Mom has been the Ward Choir Director for 35+ years. It was just a part of Christmas to sing in the choir for our family. It was really fun to share that "tradition" with some of my kids this year.

Thanksgiving 2010

2011-01-02T20:18:00.000-07:00

We spent Thanksgiving in Utah with most of my family. My sister, Catherine, lives in Provo now, so we sort of had her house as our headquarters. My oldest brother, Don, lives in Draper. He and his three kids joined us for most of the time. And my second oldest brother, Dave, lives in Kaysville. They were gracious enough to host the whole crew for the feast at their beautiful new home. My second youngest brother, Chris, and his wife, Natalie, and their two boys, Conner and Cooper drove up from CA, and my parents flew in from CA as well. We missed Dan and Marni, Doug, and Matt and Leslie and their boys, but we had everyone else there. It was a real treat. I don't think I have any pictures from the time in UT, but I got a cool shot of the crazy WY road on the drive there. The weather was really sketchy. There was a huge storm in UT that we sort of missed, but we made the trip safely after all.

the sketchy road in WY

My sister is supposed to send me some more pictures, so hopefully I'll put some more up here soon.

One of the more memorable moments was when Lindsay returned from a Girl Cousins' Sleepover. Kylie, Brianna, Angie, Mikaela, and Lindsay slept over (well, they stayed over...apparently they didn't get to sleep until 6am...) at Uncle Dave's house. The other girls spent TWO HOURS straightening her hair. She won't even let me brush it, so I don't know how she managed to let them fuss over it for two long hours. Ahhh, the power of cousins...Aunt Trisha is an aesthetician, so she had the honor of waxing Lindsay's eyebrows for the first time (I was sort of disappointed to miss the moment we had always known was coming...). And they put make-up on her. When she walked into Catherine's house that night, my heart almost stopped. She looked like 20 year old. She's so tall already and with all that make-up on...I just couldn't believe my eyes. I was relieved when the old Lindsay returned. Everyone commented on how beautiful she looked, but she just rolled her eyes, ran downstairs, and took the make-up off immediately. She's so funny.

It was a great Thanksgiving. We have so much to be thankful for. More pictures to come...

Julia's Birthday

2011-01-02T20:08:00.000-07:00

I'm way behind in all this, but I thought I'd try to catch up. My mother-in-law (Hi, Helen!) has finally found out how to check this blog, so I'm going to be extra diligent in trying to keep up on our life for her.

Our little Julia turned three! She has been planning her birthday with a Dora Cake for about 8 months. She knew it would be after the kids go back to school, after Halloween, then it would be her birthday. We had some of the other 3 year olds from Church and their families over for pizza, games, and birthday cake. Lindsay planned and ran the whole birthday party. She had fun games set up for the kids. There was Pin the Tail on Swiper, fishing, and a scavenger hunt/Dora challenge type thing. She even made a cute replica of Dora's Map that she carries in her BackPack. It was so much fun. In true Julia form, she enjoyed every single second of the extra attention and friends. She exudes happiness and enthusiasm. I'm getting all soft inside just thinking of her. Today, she actually went for her first day at Sunbeams. Can she really be three? It seems like just yesterday...

on the scavenger hunt in the basement

fishing for Dollar Store prizes

the big sister who made it all happen

eating pizza with friends

with her cute friend Kirsten

the long-awaited Dora cake!

Happenings...

2010-11-21T22:03:00.001-07:00

I need to get back in the habit of blogging once a week, so this little ol' blog of mine can serve its second purpose: a not-too-personal journal of our family.

Points of interest since last post:

It's official: Lindsay is now TALLER than me. I knew it was inevitable. I just didn't think it would happen so fast. She was officially 5'7" on September 30th. I'm pretty sure I've still got her on weight, though. Here is where I would add a picture of the two of us standing side by side if I weren't so vain.

Calvin turned 6 months old. He's as cute as can be. No teeth yet and not quite sleeping through the night, but that's the way we make 'em. Here are pictures of our kids at 6 months old. It's seriously weird how much alike they all look. Literally, with the boys, almost the only way I can tell them all apart is by looking to see how old Lindsay is. If she's 2, it's Miles. If she's almost 5, it's Samuel. etc. It's so funny. (Side note: I know there are only 5 pictures of 6 month olds below, but I spent like an hour trying to scan one of Julia or find one in my files of pictures. She is the one who looks the least like the others at that age anyway. I'll work on getting her picty in here sometime soon.)

Also, here are the pictures of both Julia and Lindsay as a bunny for Halloween when they were 3. They look a lot alike in this costume, but in pictures, they are different because of their hair. Lindsay's is darker and curly at that age, and Julia's is lighter and straight. Otherwise, they look awfully similar.

Halloween 2010

2010-11-01T09:55:00.000-06:00

Here are the pictures:

Choosing pumpkins at the pumpkin patch. Those of you from New York State will think our patch here dusty and dry, but hey, look at the beautiful clouds over the plains.

in the corn maze

A cute cow. This little pumpkin has a story, too. Our sweet neighbor, Jessie, showed up on our doorstep one day after we'd bought the pumpkins. She said, "It's been bothering me all week that there are only 5 pumpkins out here." So she pulled from behind her back this little pumpkin that she had grown in her own garden. She said that Calvin needed his own pumpkin and that this one had reminded her of him. Too cute.

Julia as a bunny rabbit

Wesley as an octopus

Samuel as Darth Vader

Miles as a wizard

Lindsay as an old lady. Notice the baby powder in her hair. We weren't sure what she was doing upstairs, but when it came time for her picture, I found her in my bathroom shaking baby powder all over herself. Later that evening, I went to put something away in my closet, and I discovered a few of my skirts on the ground. Had she been rifling through MY closet to find "old lady" clothes? Am I an old lady? sniff, sniff

the whole gang. I think they were all yelling "Happy Halloween"!

More new pictures

2010-10-28T15:35:00.000-06:00

The funny thing about my not blogging AT ALL lately is that my sweet mother-in-law just found out how to work this wonderful world of blogging. As you can see from my "profile", she (and my Mom) are the number one reason why I do this blog thingy anyway! I mean, I know the rest of you all like to see the goings-on of me and my people from a sort of curiosity point of view, but those two women, our grandmas on either side of this lovely country of ours, really do love and adore these six people almost as much as I do. I'm telling you, Grandma Helen literally got on this blog like the day after I last posted, and I haven't posted since. Sorry, Helen. I'll try to be better.

And now how's about those photos of my kids!!! Have you ever seen such beautiful photography? My cousin, Emily Grow Walton of Barnwood Photography in Oakley, UT (just outside of Park City) took those pictures. Aren't they gorgeous? I have those six photos on my living room wall right now, and every time I see them I just sort of sigh with happiness. You know, I might not parent them perfectly or model for them the perfect reaction to frustrating behavior or do whatever else it is we, as moms, think we should be doing. But somehow by some sort of freak roll of the genetic dice, they turned out to be seriously beautiful children. Now if I could just get them to practice the piano and do their homework...

Here's another gorgeous one of Julia I just couldn't resist posting. And a few others...

Seriously, isn't she amazing? Go check out her website at: barnwoodphotography.com If you're in UT, I'm sure she could find a way to photograph you and your family. She's amazing with kids and just has a fabulous eye for photography. As her father-in-law put it, she has the perfect balance between knowing the science behind photography (you know, all those acronyms for light, speed, etc.) and understanding the art behind it as well. Plus, she's an all-around wonderful person who will totally make your family feel at ease. Thanks again, Emily. You are the best!!

An Up-dated Family Picture

2010-09-10T00:09:00.000-06:00

Ahhhh, those 40 pounds I have not yet lost since the arrival of #6 are very visible in this picture, but everyone else looks so cute. I needed to get an up-dated picture with Calvin in it on here, so I'm swallowing my pride and putting this one on. Yes, even with my quadruple chin showing. Sigh. On a hopeful note, I finally bit the bullet and went back to Weight Watchers two Saturdays ago, so maybe by the time we take our annual Christmas Card picture, I'll just be down to 25 lbs overweight and only two chins.

One of those moments

2010-09-08T22:19:00.000-06:00

   So, this post won't have any pictures, and it's connected to a sappy post I wrote when Calvin was exactly 2 months old. (If I were really blog savvy, I'd embed the url of the post here with the "here" in another fancy color so you could just click over to it. But lucky for you (all 2 of you who read my blog...), I've only posted 3 times since then, so you can just scroll back. Aren't you impressed I even know the word "embed"? I'm probably using it wrong...) Anyway, it's connected to that other post because I had had one of those delicious moments of motherhood where you just want to "ingest" (to use my sweet cousin's word) every detail of it. Well, I had another one of those moments two nights ago.
   Lindsay and Tim were sitting at the kitchen table doing her math homework. All the other kids were in bed (a very important part of the equation when you want to really enjoy a moment, a peaceful moment, that is...). I was sitting in the family room. I looked up at the table, and there they were: the two tall, string beans, all arms and legs, with the exact same double layer, ear-to-ear smile stretched across their faces with the exact same dark brown eyes. Two of my favorite people in the whole world. Dad was being silly about something or other, and they were both laughing, enjoying working together. My heart just swelled inside.
   Lindsay is a very complex, strong young lady. There have been a lot of moments that have had the polar opposite feeling associated with them, so in a way, I wonder if my enjoyment of this moment was all the sweeter. She's come so far. We, as her parents, have learned so much. She has probably helped me learn more about my Father in Heaven than anything else in my life. He has given us the agency to choose for ourselves. No one (no, not even your over-bearing mother) can force you to do anything. As one of the dozens of parenting books that I've poured over put it, "one can only control oneself". That has been a definite lesson we've had to learn with our little Lindsay. It's been quite the journey with her. I think I can honestly say I wouldn't change any of it for all that it's taught me. Well, okay, I do wish that one afternoon in the summer of '06 when I locked her out of the house for some type of disobedience or other, so she started pounding on the front door with a hose nozzle, and when I opened the door to tell her to please stop destroying my property, she actually sprayed the hose INSIDE my house, dowsing the stairs and sprinkling my piano. Yes, that day I'd skip....but for the most part, we have so enjoyed this wildly strong, independent soul that was sent to us. She is one magnificent woman. It was so fun to see her with her Daddy the other night. I took a mental and emotional picture of that moment, and I plan to enjoy it for many days to come.

First Day of School

2010-09-06T22:26:00.000-06:00

Lindsay, ready for her first day of 7th grade at Webber Middle School. Don't let the smile deceive you. The complaining about the dread of middle school (which, honestly, I get...) was a constant this summer. Her bark is much worse than her bite (and, unfortunately, I get that, too...).

Miles and Samuel are ready for action. These two started on Tuesday about an hour and a half after Lindsay, so I don't have a picture of them all together. Also, Wesley didn't start Kindergarten until two days later, so he's not in the pic either.

This is the whole gang at the bus stop. Not all the kids were there for the picture. It's hilarious, though, because there are 8 boys and 1 girl at our stop. They have fun.

Miles outside of Mrs. Fenn's classroom. Lindsay had her for the 5th grade as well, so he already knows she's strict but fun.

Samuel outside of Mrs. Moat's 2nd grade classroom. She's new this year. So far she has been great. They have classroom money. It has gotten everyone motivated. Samuel earned $16 last week. Also, they have contests between the different groups of desks. If your group wins, you get to have seat cushions on your seats for the next week. You can't imagine how much this motivates those 2nd graders.

The Kindergartener, Wesley, finally gets to go to school. He was so excited. Julia couldn't resist jumping into the picture. Also, you can see "Hobbes" in this picture. This summer my cousin's kids gave that to Calvin.

He was ready for the bus, too. How could you not be when you get to go with your two older brothers?

The traditional picture by the school sign. There was a total line the first day of school, so we opted to take one on the third day of school which was Wesley's first day.

Wesley already listening intently to Mrs. Krenning. Here they are sitting on the "ocean" carpet learning where to put their lunchboxes. Yes, I have him in all day Kindergarten. I think that's why I'm missing him so much. That's all that Mrs. Krenning teaches, and she is such a great teacher. sigh

NY 2010

2010-08-25T15:47:00.000-06:00

It was a long flight out there with a three hour lay over in the Atlanta airport. Wesley sacked out while we were walking the leisurely mile from one gate to the next.

Julia finally fell asleep on the last part of our flight from Atlanta to Buffalo.

Doughnuts from this delicious bakery in Arcade.

Gotta get the haircut from Grandpa Joe.

Samuel

Even Miles, who for some reason hates getting his haircut, will smile during a haircut when Grandpa Joe's the barber.

Julia and Lindsay having fun playing in the "crick" behind Grandpa's shop.

I know it's sad to take a picture of a crying baby, but I just had to get a picture of him before church in this cute outfit that used to be his Daddy's.

Uncle Kevin manning the grill with Grandpa's supervision.

Samuel and Calvin

Lovely Lynette

down by the lake

I did not even know someone did this to him, until I was looking through the pictures after we got home. It was most likely on Michael Jackson. I hope it wasn't too loud. Eeks.

My two thumb suckers. The one on the right is supposed to be a reformed thumb sucker....sigh.

Having fun on the lake

Aunt Sandi with Julia on the boat

Watching the action

How I spent most of our "vacations" this summer: on the sidelines snuggling an adorable baby

more fun in the lake: Shaylyn, Lindsay, Julia, Tristen

How much more classic summertime can you get: fishing with Grandpa

Our friend, Raymond, hadn't been swimming in decades. Here he is attempting the tubes with Samuel.

More tubers. This picture cracks me up, because you can see the two cousins with the way curly hair: Lindsay and Nathan. Where did they get such curls?

The on-lookers on the boat: Shaylyn (totally sacked out), Julia, Tristen

The reason we all gathered

The Happy Couple I'm so grateful to them for setting such a good example of love and respect for fifty years of marriage.

on some waterslides: Julia, Miles, Samuel

on the slide at Arcade Park
Even with all the fun things we do, the kids always insist we go to the Arcade Park. It warms my heart a little. It is, after all, the park their Daddy grew up playing in.

Beautiful sunset out the plane window on the flight home

Wesley passed out in the stroller again. This time on the way home.

California 2010

2010-08-25T15:14:00.000-06:00

swimming: Samuel, Miles, Calvin

On a Redwood tree in Big Basin

Calvin relaxing with Daddy

Eating S'mores by the pool

Grandpa's Tree House (in the making)

Now when most people say tree house, you think of a small structure in a tree. But when Grandpa Call says tree house, he literally means a tree in a house: 4 stories, balcony, loft. The kids were thrilled to be able to sleep in it the last night we were there. Grandma wasn't so thrilled to be kept awake until 1am with shrills of laughter. The tree house is right outside their bedroom window.

My surfer brother, Don, with his boys, Dalton and Hudson (or as Uncle Chris nicknamed them: D-Town and HudBud)

Collecting sand crabs at the beach

Grandpa at the beach

Wesley having fun at the beach

We always go to the tide pools at Natural Bridges when we go to Santa Cruz. We went to Manreesa later, so my brother could surf.

The cousins lined up at a ride at the Boardwalk.

being silly on the kiddie coaster

Marnie and Mikaela lookin' good

Calvin enjoying the Boardwalk. You can see the $1 soda. That's why we always go: the $1 rides, hot dogs, and sodas. Grandpa Call canNOT resist a good deal.

Wesley being brave with Mommy on the big swings. I'm suppressing my fear as well as possible, so as not to scare the little one. All I can think about on those swings is: "PING!"...

Julia with her Aunt Marnie

Conner and Miles on the swings

Calvin with the cute blankie that Aunt Larissa and the cousins gave him.

Lindsay and Julia

We started a new tradition for saying "good-bye". All the cousins line up for a farewell hug line. Then, as they drive off we all run across the front lawn yelling "good-bye". It's actually rather sweet.

My harmless husband. Does he realize that he just took out one of the cousins? Look how much fun he's having.

Julia with Aunt Natalie

Moab. She's as beautiful as her Mama, Marnie.

Dirt bike rides with Uncle Dan. Go, Samuel!

The girl cousins who made it: Lindsay, Mikaela, Emma, and Julia

Julia's smile was literally from ear to ear. She's our little thrill seeker.

Does anyone else sense a Christmas card picture here?

Sadly, I have no group picture from the Sunday of his blessing. But here he is in his cute little blessing outfit.

Catherine and Natalie

Lindsay's 12th Birthday Bash

Canoeing up at Stevens Creek Reservoir. It was all fun and games until they realized they were swimming in a bay that had a dead deer in it. Don't ask.

Flag Raising Ceremony on Grandpa's front porch

Street Slides in San Francisco

swimming in the spa

Some of the beautiful California sights

Calvin's Birthday

2010-08-20T17:16:00.001-06:00

I know it's three months later, but as we always say in the Owens' Home: "Better late than never!"

the happy family before the arrival of #6

getting the news that the induction was a "go"

our "team" ready for action: Cherise, Miles, Lindsay

The team just about to get more action than they ever dreamed was possible.

I love how he loves our babies, even though he pretends not to be that in to them.

Everyone adoring.

Who can resist a newborn face?

"Getting to know you..."

Kisses...

Awww!!

So, that's the story, in pictures, of the day he was born. We feel so blessed that Our Father in Heaven sent another precious little spirit down to us. It is such a privilege to have someone "so fresh from God" be in our home.

Some thoughts...

2010-07-15T00:02:00.001-06:00

So, we still have no main home computer (#74 on the list of 257 things to do: get a new computer). So, I still have no really organized way of saving and keeping track of pictures. Okay, so I didn't really even have on before, too, but at least, they were all saved on the same computer. Now, we have pictures on 3 different cameras (the one Grandma Helen gave us as a graduation from dental school gift in 2004, the one we bought in 2008 when we thought we had lost the one from G-ma at the zoo, and then Tim's really nice one for work. Lindsay ended up finding the one from G-ma Helen under the seat in Dad's car...sigh.) We have some pictures saved on this lap top, some pictures saved on the nice camera's cartridge, some pictures saved on the computers at work. I get panicky even thinking about it. Sheesh, just last week at my Mom's house, I found some adorable pictures of a trip we took to San Diego to visit my brother the summer of 2004 that I didn't even know existed. I mean priceless pictures of my Samuel when he was about 18 months old. Such a delicious age! Breathe in. Breathe out. Don't panic. Then, to top it off I just saw this blog whose 6th baby is about the same age as Calvin, and they had the most insanely beautiful pictures of their baby girl (who just happened to be named Caroline!). I just about started to cry. I don't think I even have a single picture of Calvin from about 2 weeks old to 4 weeks old. sniff, sniff.

But this all leads me to my latest idea/effort. I have been really trying, lately, to just be "in the moment". I know. It's not an earth-shatteringly new idea, but it's something I'm trying to focus on. Like tonight. I had to go out and run an errand before our next trip this weekend. On the way home, I picked us up some chips and queso sauce at Chili's. It's sort of our little thing. Back in the basement apartment, newly wed days, Chili's take out was our big indulgence every few months. So, we sat outside on our front porch and just enjoyed our little treat and the summer evening and the quiet house together. Then, we heard Calvin start to squawk. I went up and got him, and he fell immediately back to sleep in my arms, just nuzzled perfectly under my chin. I was in heaven: a hot, little body snuggling on me. It doesn't get much better. I had Tim take a picture even though I'm sure my double chin is visible, and my hair is a mess. I just wanted to remember that almost intoxicating moment.

Well, he's squawking again, and this time, I think he'll want to be fed. Let me see if I can find that camera where Tim took the picture. Ignore the double chin, and try to enjoy the moment with me.

Oh yeah, I need that special doo-hicky thing to insert my card into this lap top. Well, no need to ignore the double chin. I'll try to download it tomorrow.

I'm off to enjoy my two month old. Yes, he is two months old today.

How much do I love Miles?

2010-06-24T16:43:00.000-06:00

Okay, so let's be honest. Who am I kidding? When am I not honest? We've been barely surviving summer. It cracks me up to read all these glowing reports of other mothers' blissful summers. My coping mechanism for this summer: lock myself in my room with my precious, infant son. It's actually been working quite nicely...

So, after a morning of trying to beat back the clutter, I rewarded the kids with a trip to Goodberry's Frozen Yogurt. (Yum!) It had been a long cranky morning for this mommy, so when "Respect" came on the radio, I took the opportunity to sort of sing out my crankiness (read: I was really belting it out.). Miles looks at me after the song is over and in all honesty asks, "Mom, why aren't you a famous singer?" I replied, "Because I decided to have six kids instead." Warm heart, lots of love for that boy. It was a cute moment. And, of course, even through all the madness that is summer in our house, there isn't anything in the world I'd rather be doing than being cranky and bored with these six monkeys all summer long.

We go to my parents' house on Saturday, so let the fun begin. Grandpa's house + cousins = heaven for my kids. They absolutely can't wait to get out there. Six cousins are already out there, and it's killing my kids to know that the party has somewhat started without them.

Lindsay's been at Girls' Camp this week. I hope she's having fun. She has some very conscientious leaders, so I'm confident she's having the time of her little life. I have such huge expectations for Girls' Camp after the Girls' Camp that I was privileged to go to growing up: LADASA at Camp Lehi in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was amazing.

Well, here are some pictures:

My annual attempt at a Father's Day gift which I miraculously got out to the grandfathers on time this year, but that's a story for another post:

My angel baby: Calvin Call Owens (and yes, he's lying on a pink blanket. I went so overboard buying little extras for Julia that I just can't justify buying more for Calvin. The blanket in just as soft whether it's pink or blue, right?)

Up-date

2010-04-17T02:14:00.000-06:00

Has it really been two months since my last post? Tim's out of town 'til tomorrow afternoon. He's a another class. This time in Chicago. It's a good one: all on occlusion (how the teeth bite and fit together). Also, there was some about photography in there which I know he loves, so that's exciting. Only, how excited can you get about taking pictures of teeth? I can't wait for him to get home. We all miss our "voice of reason" desperately!

So, do you see the time I am posting this? Yes, it's 2:15AM. Sigh. I woke up with a yucky tummy. I guess one really shouldn't eat two huge pieces of pizza with tons of cheese on it, two glasses of milk, and a huge cookies 'n cream brownie when one is almost 36 weeks pregnant. Which brings me to the next thing I wanted to post: did I ever say on here that we are expecting child #6? I guess we sort of alluded to it in our Christmas card, but you had to have read it through to the very end for the little hint: "Julia loves...babies. Lucky for her, Baby Owens Version 6.0 will be arriving this May." We are so thrilled. It will be another little boy, and so far, everything seems to be on track.

So, do you want the real reason I'm up at 2:15AM? (I really do have a queasy tummy, but...) I have been reading "Anne of Green Gables". What a great book. Lindsay saw that I was reading it and wants to read it next, so I felt a sort of sense of responsibility to get it read as quickly as I could. Hee, hee. She gets too involved in the mystery/fantasy genre, so I'm wanting her to branch out a little more. Also, she is such a strong little lady herself that I love for her to read about other strong, admirable little ladies, too.

Anyway, in reading "Anne", I came across just the most adorable, applicable quote. I thought immediately that I had to post it.

Anne tells Diana (her bosom friend), "There's such a lot of different Annes in me. I sometimes think that's why I'm such a troublesome person. If I was just the one Anne, it would be ever so much more comfortable, but then it wouldn't be half so interesting."

I just love that. There are so many timeless, beautiful sentiments in that book. I've really enjoyed reading it. I also just saw that there is a whole series of them. I guess I'll have to read them. Only so that I know what Lindsay will be getting into, of course.

Only 14 more hours until my Tim gets home.

And, I can't seem to put something on here without a picture. Our main home computer sort of died last month, so we're down to using our laptops. I haven't down-loaded any recent pictures on this computer, but I did find the most adorable (if I do say so myself...) picture from our trip to western New York last summer. It's the soon to be big sister with her big brother out by the lake. Doesn't Tim have a natural knack for photography?

We're Still Here...

2010-02-10T14:11:00.001-07:00

Here are a few pictures from our last few months' happenings:

On Christmas Eve, our neighbors invited us over to an open-house. It was so nice. They live a very short way away, and it just felt silly to pile everyone into the car to drive there. But it was seriously like 3 degrees outside. We bundled up Wesley and Julia and took them there Russian style. Seriously, you always see moms pulling around their kids in sleds, etc. all bundled up in winter. It was a really fun evening. We are blessed to associate with wonderful people in all areas of our life: neighborhood, school, church, work.

We were all very tired and sugar-ed out after the Open House, but I just couldn't live through a Christmas Eve without our traditional live nativity. Here we are at the end. Julia couldn't get enough of the Baby Jesus. In fact, most babies are still referred to as Baby Jesus even now in February. One of my favorite moments from Christmas was when it was the shepherd's (Wesley's) turn to hear the angel (Lindsay). We all look over at Wesley, and he's just totally kicking back with a drink of water in one hand and his legs crossed. It was just the funniest thing. He's such a funny little guy.

Christmas jammies.

This was my other favorite moment of Christmas. Julia was the last one up, so we all thought it'd be fun to sneak quietly into her room and show her the stocking that was waiting in her crib, thinking that she was still soundly asleep in there. We all sneaked in, only to discover that she was in there amidst all of her "loot" trading off between sucking her thumb and some candy. She was just all set to stay there all morning. She had her candy. It was just such a funny moment for all of us. She's such a sweetie.

The view of the Christmas tree from upstairs. I always think about how my Dad says that he remembers the "smell" of Christmas. He and his siblings would go and sit out on the landing of their Appleton house and just wait and soak in the smell. Such a cute image.

We had a fun "active" birthday party for Samuel's 7th birthday on the 26th. I think he had a lot of fun. Here are all the attendees.

Then, for New Year's we went out to Utah. My sis, Cath, just moved to Provo, so we made her house our headquarters, even though she had just moved in a couple of weeks ago and was still unpacking her house. Thank you, Cath, for letting us invade.

How much do you think these cousins slept? They all gave it their best shot.

Julia discovering the wonders of dress-up with Emma's stuff. We have a dress up box, too, but it has as much Ninja, Star Wars, crazy wigs, etc. as it has pretty pink stuff. She was in heaven as is evident by her facial expression.

Miles really acts the part of the beloved, worshipped, older cousin well. In fact, I don't think he minds it at all that he's got 7 younger boy cousins who follow his every move. Here's a picture with Tate.

We made it up to Salt Lake Temple Square to see the lights. They are even more spectacular than I remember. I think the last time I went was on the day after Thanksgiving my freshman year at BYU when Becky Pulley's family so graciously hosted us. We had fun then in the crowd, but now we have a crowd of our own.

Don and his boys were able to meet up with us. It was snowing and cold, but it just added to the magic of the beautiful lights.

Enjoying the snow in the Grames' backyard.

We also got to go up to Kaysville and enjoy celebrating Jacob and Jared's 11th birthday. Brandon was there, too. He's getting sooo old. I think he's 13 now. Crazy.

It was a great holiday season. Now we're gearing up for a visit from the Grames and Grandma and Grandpa Call for Presidents' Day Weekend. More fun

Here's Hoping for a Snow Day

2009-12-07T22:01:00.000-07:00

So, my kids have this funny superstition thing that if they sleep with their pajamas on backwards and inside out, then it will be a snow day the next morning. No school!! I don't even know how it all began, but they're convinced it works.

Also, notice the duct tape securing Julia's diaper. Yeah, I was welcomed by one too many crib-fuls of you-know-what. Tim suggested the duct tape. It's worked so far. Bless her little heart.

Lindsay's sleeping with the phone, so she can be the one to answer it when the automated school district phone call comes telling us that school's been cancelled. I just watched the news, and I don't think that there'll be one tomorrow. Just in case, I got another canister of hot chocolate at Sam's Club this afternoon, so I'm prepared if the weather guy's wrong.

Halloween 2009

2009-11-15T21:44:00.001-07:00

Girls choosing pumpkins...

Boys choosing pumpkins...

The whole fam posing at the pumpkin patch...

Girls carving pumpkins...

Boys carving pumpkins...

Miss Julia, a butterfly...

Wesley, a skeleton...

Samuel, a vampire...(he had the perfect "fangs" this year)

Miles, a mad scientist (which wasn't really dressing up for him at all...)

Lindsay, a funky clown...

The whole gang by the carved and lit pumpkins...

The pumpkins all aglow...

The skeleton, the butterfly, and the mad scientist "trick or treating"...

I say it in quotes because this was actually the night after Halloween (yes, a Sunday) when we were requested to go over to our sweet neighbor's house. She had special little treat bags for each of the kids and was so disappointed that we didn't make it by on Halloween night. We had had a fairly hectic night with Lindsay trying to navigate two different 11 y.o. girls' parties and fifteen 11 y.o. girls' feelings, so we hadn't gotten to everything that night. Also, I never got pictures Halloweeen night, so I was happy to get everyone dressed up again, get their pictures taken, and head over to Jessi's house. We even sang her a pretty "stirring" rendition of "Stirring My Brew", if I do say so myself. :):) Also, I love that the butterfly in the last picture has a "blankie". So cute.

Wesley's First Day of School

2009-09-22T14:47:00.000-06:00

Wesley is in Pre-K this year at the Harmony Preschool. It's fun school where he can go FOUR afternoons a week. I've never had my 4 y.o. go to 4 days of pre-school, but I thought he'd enjoy it. His teacher is super nice, and he seems to be enjoying it. I am also loving that I get a few hours a day in the house when it's quiet, because Julia naps while he's a school. It's been great all around.

Here he is on his first day of school. Again, we only had Daddy's fancy camera with the macro lens. Sheesh.

Mommy and Wesley outside Harmony Preschool

Wesley outside school

Wesley at the door to his classroom with Julia not standing still for a picture behind him

Wesley said, "Mom, if I do one nice one, then can I do a silly one?"

Yes, of course, son.

A Family Tradition Continues

2009-09-22T14:28:00.000-06:00

It felt like every single Saturday night we'd take a bath, get in our jammies, and head downstairs to get our fingernails and toenails clipped while we watched "The Lawrence Welk Show". Seriously. If tradtions are something that families do to increase a sense of belonging and well-being then this one surely served its purpose. I think my brother Chris was the most fond of the show, but we all enjoyed it, I'm sure.

Well, the other Saturday night when Tim was still out of town, wouldn't you know it? "The Lawrence Welk Show" was on PBS. It was great. I was telling the kids how I used to always watch it growing up. Then, I was laughing with them about the guys' bright red suits. Lindsay realized that they matched almost exactly to the red suit coat she had "inherited" from Great-Grandma Shirley's closet this summer. She had to run upstairs and put it on. Thus began a great Dress Up Dance Off. I was so glad I had my camera.

Lindsay and Wesley (both sporting numbers from Great-Grandma's closet)

Samuel looking good in a dress from Great-Grandma and the wig and hat from our dressup box (the modeling pose and suave look are all his own)

Wesley busting a move

Yep, we let Wesley's hair "grow out". It would probably look similar to this without frequent cuts.

Miles doing a pretty good "Elvis". Thank you, thank you very much...

Samuel

Julia had to be part of the action.

Tim took my dinky camera with him to Guatemala, so I had his fancy one from the office. Unfortunately, it had on the really fancy "macro" lens, I think. So I could only get close-ups of everyone. Oh well...

He's Back

2009-09-17T17:29:00.000-06:00

And we're all so happy he's home safe and sound. He had a great time: driving up riverbeds in the back of Toyota pick-ups, pulling teeth by head-lamp light, and just all around experiencing another culture. It's always such a good reminder of the blessings we enjoy here in our country and of the fact that we are all God's children and do share somewhat of a responsibility for each other.

Here are some pictures:

the lush country side of Guatemala

the crew after a trip in the Toyota. Love the wind-blown hair, babe

such a beautiful little girl and she doesn't even look that traumatized

Aren't these children beautiful? The moms would always make sure that their kids got treated first, and then, if there was still time at the end, they'd let themselves get treated.

6 Down and 3 To Go!!

2009-09-09T22:33:00.000-06:00

At the last minute, Tim decided to join some dentists in our area and head down to Guatemala on a humanitarian trip for 10 days. 10 bed-time routines on my own. I have to say that I've been pleasantly surprised by my ability to remain mainly in control (of myself, that is. I'd never pretend to have "control" over my children...). I guess I should admit that I am sort of a "rise-to-the-occasion" kind of gal. Seriously, I do better when I know there is no possibility of a "bail-out" than when I know Tim will be home any minute but he's somehow taken 4 minutes longer than he said he would. Do you know what I mean? Sigh.

On top of the 10 nights alone, I even survived a holiday on my own. It ended up being very fun. We went to the pool at my gym and enjoyed swimming and hamburgers. We survived Sunday with the help of some friends being brave enough to invite us over for dinner. The weekdays aren't so bad at all. We just have our normal daily routine. It just gets lonely at night, and I miss my Tim. A two minute phone call every night or so just doesn't cut it. Now we just have Saturday and Sunday, then he's home.

Does this sound negative? Are you all wondering "why can't she handle her life/kids better"? I wonder that sometimes, too. What is my problem? Part of it boils down to the temperament of my children. As our Bishop likes to say, "You were not denied the blessing of active children." Also, I struggle with modeling calm, temperate behavior in stressful situations. This has led to my children also having a hard time remaining calm in stressful situations. Stressful situations come up a lot in a house with 5 active children. I'm working on this. I also have the honesty gene deeply embedded in my genetic code. So much so, that, if anything, I ere on the side of being too honest, and in that effort to be honest, I think I say or admit to things that come across negative. Who knows. Either way, I'm proud of myself for my good behavior in my husband's absence, and I'm so excited for him and the adventure he's having.

I also must record here that I do deeply love my five little people. They have been so instrumental in the development of who I am and who I want to become. Parenting, while relentless, is also the best way to learn and grow and change and improve that I know of. It's funny to look back 11 years and 2 months ago at the mother I was and see how I've changed. It's been such a journey. So worth it in every way. I'm so grateful to my children and the way each of their individual personalities and spirits have contributed to the mother I'm striving to become.

Thank you to the friends and my sister that I've called and talked to almost every night during my lonely times. Keep me in your positive thoughts until Sunday.

Happy Anniversary to Us!!!

2009-08-23T22:23:00.000-06:00

We celebrated our 12th anniversary this past Wednesday. 12 years!! We got a cake and sang, "Happy Birthday to our family" with the kids, then we went out to a nice dinner by ourselves. It was a great day. We've really had a great 12 years. We look back and can't believe how we've been blessed time and time again.

August 19, 2009

August 19, 1997

It almost never rains in August in California! It made for some good pictures.

When we got home from dinner, the kids had some sweet notes and cards on our bed. So cute!

While the kids had dinner, I reminisced and told them some memorable moments from our wedding day. I told them about the Father's Blessing Grandpa Call gave to me that morning before we left to the temple. I told them that Great Grandpa Call had performed the sealing ordinance for us. They all listened attentively. But, of course, the story that they all got stuck on was how Uncle Kevin messed up our car. Wesley could not get over it. When we looked through the wedding album before they went to bed, he could not figure out why we didn't have a picture of the car with peanut butter smeared on the door handles and dry potato flakes sprinkled all over the dashboard. Mind you, it was like 11pm and raining when we finally left which meant there were then mashed potatoes all over the dashboard. Thanks again, Kev.

Back to School Blues

2009-08-23T22:12:00.000-06:00

The kids are back in school!!! It's always such a bitter-sweet time for me. I mean, literally, we barely survive some days of summer (boredom + siblings = fights, in our house unfortunately.). So there's this definite sense of relief when we get to the end of another summer, and we are still all basically in tact. But there's also the side of me that misses the little monsters so much. This year with Lindsay going to middle school, I had a lot of mixed feelings. Anyway, we survived the summer. We survived the first days of school for the olders (Wesley doesn't start his pre-school until after Labor Day), and we're ready for our first full week of school to start tomorrow.

"Okay, Mom, take the picture. The bell just rang."

Lindsay at Webber Middle School

Miles and Samuel

At the bus stop: Noah, our neighbor, Samuel, Miles

Samuel and Miles at McGraw Elementary

How I Survived the Last Three Weeks of Summer: my niece, Lynette

2009-08-23T21:50:00.000-06:00

We started out last summer with having Lynette come home with us after our week in New York. She stayed with us for an extra 10 days or so. This year we got her for a whole three weeks and two days. It was heaven, at least, for me. She is such a smart, strong, awesome young woman. It was so fun to have someone to talk to and visit with. We got her hair cut in a really cute, sassy cut. She went with us out to BYU. We were there for the conference of the LDS Academy of Dentists. But while we were there, she got to take a tour of BYU (with a super cute 24 year old who served in the Arcade Branch, but it wasn't a date...). She almost gave Tim a heart attack when he let her drive his car home from his office. She had her permit. How was I supposed to know that she had only ever driven one time before? They made it home alive, thankfully. And even if she had run into that fire hydrant when she pushed the gas instead of the brake, what harm could it have really done to Tim's $900 old jalopy. (Did you know that you could still buy a car for that cheap?)

Here she is with her cute new do:

Are my kids the only ones who totally obsess on Chuck E. Cheese? What is the fascination? Anyway, Lynette's in this second picture, too. The first picture is from a time that Wesley, Julia, and I went while the other kids were at school. The second is from a annual trip during the summer. We always make a list of things we want to do during the summer, and somehow going to C.E.C. is always near the top. Weird.

The Angst that is Middle School

2009-08-12T16:41:00.000-06:00

Our school district is just switching from Junior High (7-9) to Middle School (6-8) this year. That puts my 11 year old in the first crop of 6th graders to have to brave the halls of Webber Middle School. It's been a very intimidating idea for her (and her mother). She's been adamantly against it. We drive by the middle school on our way to church most weeks, and she yells and shouts and won't look at the school whenever we pass it. Sure, most of it is just typical Lindsay antics, but there is also a lot of real live anxiety in there, too. And who wouldn't be anxious? Almost every adult I talk to remembers those middle school years with loathing. It's just such an awkward time. Everything is in flux: your sense of self, your physical body, your place in the crowd, etc. The "crowd" is almost overnight outrageously important. The whole "mob mentality" idea really begins. I still remember the Esprit shirt that every cool 8th grader had: white with thin, colored stripes, snap up front. Also, there was a certain shade of L'Oreal lipstick/gloss that we all HAD to have. It's just such a crazy time. Anyway, so now I'm faced with the daunting task of convincing my 11 year old that it won't be that bad, that there's really nothing to be afraid of, that it will actually be FUN!! (And, in some ways, it will be fun: a whole class devoted to science!!)

So, we found out two weeks ago that we will be out of town for the 6th grade open house night when they will get their schedules and locker assignments. Great. We're going to start out behind, AGAIN. One call to the office was a dead-end, "Just come in early on the first day of school." Then, I thought about it again. I have an 11 year old here with almost clinically diagnosable levels of anxiety. Surely, somebody could help me out and print out her schedule a day early. Well, I dropped by yesterday and found someone just that helpful. Phew! She said to come back tomorrow, and she'd have the schedule, etc. printed out for me. Thank you. Thank you, Mrs. Lemmon.

So, we get all of our school supplies ready (to the tune of about $150) and head up to the school. It all felt so weird. Trying to be up-beat and positive for my little girl but knowing inside that it might, in reality, be sort of a yucky time. As we walk in, I get the weirdest wave or flash back of feelings. Two girls (and you could tell they were most likely popular 8th graders-to-be) walked out of the school. They were all blonded and tanned and big in all the right places and skinny in all the right places. I got a total middle schooler feeling of inadequacy/jealousy/dread/inferiority. It was so wild!! Here I am, a thirty-six year old woman and mother of 5 children. Totally confident (well, most days...) in who I am, and I totally got all those feelings rushing back. It was so crazy.

Well, we went into the school. The gal with our schedule couldn't have been more nice. We ironed out a few obvious schedule conflicts (she can't do band, because her braces make it next to impossible to play the french horn), and we were off to explore the school. We went first to her locker. Have I ever mentioned that Lindsay, though she is one of the brightest 11 year olds I know (I'm, of course, not biased at all...), can't tell her left from her right? Seriously. It's a brain thing. Her mind just works in a different way. Also, most days her shirt is on backwards. It's hilarious. Well, just try opening up a locker when you can't tell your left from your right. She finally got the hang of it after like 7 tries. I was so grateful that we had an empty hallway of lockers to be experimenting in rather than a sea of swarming 6th and 7th graders. Phew! Then, we went to map out her classes. Her home-room teacher happened to be in there. Geography. Mr. Poduska. Seemed really nice. Phew, again. And we went from there through the rest of her 9 classes. At one point, we even asked some intimidating looking 8th graders-to-be where the gym was, and they very politely and kindly showed us. We had a little learning moment together about the whole "don't-judge-a-book-by-its-cover" idea after that encounter.

Anyway, all in all we survived. And I think that's how most of us got through middle school or junior high or adolescence. I'm so excited for Lindz. She's going to have so much fun (and growth, and angst, and learning) over the next three years. Hopefully, she'll always know that there is someone waiting at home for her who will listen to all the details of her adventures there. And, hey, if it'll help, I'll even go searching for a specific white with colored stripes Esprit shirt. Webber Middle School, here we come!!

Summer in NY

2009-08-08T18:40:00.000-06:00

Our week in New York. What a fun time we had. There were too many good pictures to choose from. Here are way too many. We ended up renting a cottage that was about 15 minutes from Tim's parents. It was on Rushford Lake. If you've never seen a Western New York lake, you will be amazed at how beautiful it is: so green and lush, all surrounded by trees. It was so fun to have a place where we could host everyone for big family dinners and cousin sleep-overs. Uncle Kevin was nice enough to get his jet-ski fixed so we got to do that and tubing, etc. It was fun. The pictures will show the highlights of the trip better than I can say them...

The Cottage on Rushford Lake

the view of the lake from the cottage. We had our own private dock and beach area. So fun!

The first night we were there we just sat on the front porch and enjoyed the summer evening together. Somebody on the other end of the lake shot off some fireworks, so we enjoyed the free show.

Another reason for our visit was for Tim's Grandma Shirley's Memorial Service. She died in February of this year, but Tim's family waited for all of us to get out there to do her memorial service. I'll hopefully someday do an entire post on Grandma Shirley. She was quite a lady. Let's just say that after knowing her, I'm glad to not have to take all the blame for Lindsay's spunk!! Anyway, here's Lindsay wearing some gems that she chose from Great-Grandma Shirley's closet.

Miles on the front porch swing

Mom snuggling with Samuel on the front porch

Nathan and Wesley starting what became the perpetual fire. There was just enough wind most days to keep the fire going. It was the perfect way to warm up after a dip in the lake. Also, it made the whole trip seem more like camping. You could hang out by the fire, roast marshmellows, and then go inside and sleep in a comfortable bed. Nice. Just as close to camping as I need in my life right now.

Ryan, Wesley, and Miles at the fire

Ryan, Grandma Helen, Miles, Lynette, Samuel, Caroline, Tristen, Mariah, Nathan, Grandpa Joe, Julia, and Raymond

Jubee on the dock

Julia and Wesley in the kayak

Nathan, Samuel, and Ryan on the jet ski

Julia with Grandma and Grandpa in the cottage

a calm morning on the lake

an evening jet ski ride with Miles, Wesley, and Mom. We got out about 200 feet, and Wesley was ready to go back in. I think his face in this picture is showing that he wasn't so sure about the jet ski from the get go.

Even easy-going and nice cousins like Nathan and Ryan can get sick of their little 9 year old cousin pestering them and hyping out 24 hours a day. Here, Ryan finally decided to throw Miles in the lake. Wesley and Tristen were cheering him on. (Ryan is too nice to actually throw Miles in, but he almost did.)

another fabulous hair-do by Lindsay

Julia loving her cousin, Ryan

Monday, we made "The Buoy Pact". We promised each other that every day, rain or shine, we'd swim out to the buoy. It was a couple hundred feet from the dock. It was the perfect thing to make sure that we didn't let a day go by without enjoying a swim.

Mariah, Lynette, and Caroline jumping off the dock, heading for the buoy

We made it. Mariah, Lindsay, Caroline, Lynette, Sandi

Wesley even jumped off the dock. At Grandpa Call's house, it took him almost two weeks to get the courage up to jump off the diving board, but here, he jumped off the dock on the first day. Tim and I were amazed.

Samuel in the tube

Lindsay, preparing for launch

The front room became the cousin's sleep-over area. Every morning it was wall-to-wall sleeping cousins in there. Samuel somehow always ended up with this comfy couch. Lucky guy.

The kids loved this hammock that was in the side yard. Here, Shaylyn and Julia enjoy a ride.

This was the hammock on the other side of the house (that we found out was only for adults...oops). Samuel, Lindsay (in some more vintage clothing from Grandma Shirley) and Tristen (also in some dress-up from Grandma)

An Owens' Family Reunion Tradition: Jelly Bellies!!

a night-time swim to the buoy. Here are the survivors: (clock-wise from middle top) Caroline, Miles, Nathan, Sandi, Kevin (who had a slight panic attack out at the buoy - I guess he started thinking about the scene in "Jaws" that he was taunting us with before he decided to take the swim), Natosha Miess, Danny Miess, Isaac Miess, Lynette, Mariah, Ryan

We also got to go out to Palmyra for the Hill Cumorah Pageant. Here the kids are in The Sacred Grove. Julia, Wesley, Samuel, Miles, Lindsay

the boys outside The Sacred Grove

How adorable is this picture of Wesley? Couldn't you just eat him up?

the whole gang just outside The Sacred Grove

Another real highlight of our trip was getting to be there for Ryan's Eagle Court of Honor. This was a real achievement for Ryan. He amazes us with his tenacity and hard work. What a great kid. It's so nice for my kids to have older cousins that they can look up to. I'm so grateful to Ryan and his good example of hard work and kindness.

Lynette, Kevin, Tristen, Mariah, Ryan, Sandi, Shaylyn, Nathan

a ride on the jet ski with Dad: Tim, Miles, and Lindsay

Julia watching all the action from the dock

a friend of Grandpa Joe who is a native of Rushford took us on a fun boat tour. It was a beautiful night.

a sunset on the lake

Anyway, if you've made it this far, you've survived too many pictures. It was just such a fun, idyllic week. We are so grateful for our extended family and feel so blessed that we've been able to maintain strong relationships with them even though we live far away from them. We love you guys and can't wait 'til next summer!!!

California

2009-07-25T15:08:00.001-06:00

I know you're not supposed to back-log when journaling, because there's always the risk that you'll be forever trying to catch up and miss what's happening now. BUT, I think I'll give a go anyway.

Every year we do what I like to call our "pilgrimages": one trip to CA, one trip to NY. Sometimes people think we're extravagant to be always off somewhere. Sometimes I feel like we should for once go on a "Tim Owens Family Vacation". But mostly, I feel so lucky that we have such great families to go visit. Truthfully, put summer, cousins, and somewhere to run around and/or swim, and my kids have as much fun as they would have if they were at Disneyland (one of those "somewheres" we have yet to visit...).

My Mom just called the other night to try to remember what all we did. The almost two weeks just turned into somewhat of a blur. It was so fun, though. Honestly, I think I only said like three things that I wish I could erase, and all three were probably to my loving, forgiving sister. And she was loving and forgiving every time. We had so much fun.

We flew out Tuesday morning. How much do I love non-stop flights? Especially since I was flying 1-on-5. Tim was going to join us after he worked for the week. It was great. We sat down and got settled. Right near the end of boarding, a family got on, and there weren't enough seats for them to sit all together. I just offered to let their 6 y.o. sit with Samuel and Miles, and they sat a few aisles back. 1-on-6. Really, after 3 or 4 kids, it truly is sort of the "just throw another one on the pile" mentality. Everyone did great, Grandma picked us up at the airport in San Jose, and we were good to go. We were greeted my Aunt Catherine, Emma, and Tate at Grandma's house, and the festivities began.

Originally, Catherine and my plan was to come out a week before the week before the Fourth of July and go up to San Francisco for their summer opera season. So, even though Matt and Leslie and crew arrived late Tuesday night, Cath and I still sneaked up to the city Wednesday night to see Gershwin's "Porgy and Bess". You know the song: "Summertime, and the livin' is easy..." That's from this opera. It was an awesome production, but as with most operas the plot was a bit wild. This one is all about drug addiction and the hard coastal existence of African-Americans in South Carolina in the 30's. It was intense, but the singing was beautiful. My Dad splurged and got us amazing seats. We both so enjoyed ourselves. "Porgy and Bess" is rarely done, so it was a treat to see one of the great American operas.

Also, the saddest part of our vacation happened Wednesday night, too. Conner broke his leg. Seriously. The kid who lives for being with his cousins. The kid who NEVER stops running or swimming or moving or going, going, going, going. He broke his leg, and it was the side of the pool for the rest of the time. They might come out to visit us in CO after he gets his cast off, so that he can really enjoy some "Miles time". We were all so disappointed. It was so sad to see him immobilized, but you know, that sweet little guy managed somehow to be just as exciting and fun and enthusiatic as ever, even from a stroller.

Thursday, we went to Great America. Wow. Cousins, roller coasters, rides, water-slides. Again, a great day. I went on all the scary water slides with Samuel (who wasn't scared a bit) and Leslie (who was maybe just as scared as I was. Okay, maybe a little less scared than I was.). It was hilarious. I mean, come on. Am I going to let my 6 y.o. go on water slides that I won't go on myself? It was fun. Later in the day, I ended up sending Julia (she was tired) and Lindsay (Mikaela got into town) home with Grandma. Cath was okay keeping Wesley and Samuel with her two, so Miles and I did a blitz run through the whole park and went on every single scary ride and roller coaster there was. I mean, we even went on "The Drop Zone"!! When I told that to Tim, he couldn't believe it. I couldn't believe I went on it either. Seriously, it's one of those raise up into the sky like 400 feet and then freefall drop down. I just knew that if Miles went on it, he would feel so proud of himself (and get to brag to all the other cousins and Uncle Dan). I just totally pumped him up and ignored the little voice in my own head that was screaming out "WHAT ARE YOU DOING? THIS IS CRAZY!!!" Miles barely made the height cut-off, but we got in. Seriously, I was so scared that I couldn't even open my eyes (my brother told me later that closing your eyes actually exaggerates the wild sensation of falling. Nice.). Miles wasn't too sure about it all, either. The fall was so intense. I totally had to tense up all my stomach muscles, or my stomach would have been in my throat. It was wild. There was absolutely no line, so we went on it again. Crazy. I think Miles liked it better the second time. Then, after we went on that ride, I told him that he had already been on the scariest ride in the park, so he may as well go on all the other roller coasters, too. And that's exactly what we did. No lines at any of them. It was awesome. And I just have to say that I love that kid so much. I can't remember the last time I got to spend an hour with him alone. I just love him. And yes, it was great to be able to go home and tell all the other cousins and especially Uncle Dan that we had gone on every roller coaster including the Drop Zone (even for me.).

Miles

Friday we just basically hung out around the pool. Let's just say that this is no ordinary pool. This is Grandpa Call's pool: a big diving board, a slide, a hot tub, ice cream sandwiches in the hot tub. It really is like a dream come true for the kids. They just love every second of it. And even when they've been in for 7 hours, we still have to pry them out at 10pm to plunk into bed. Fun.

Missiles in the hot tub, just one of the reasons why Grandpa Call's pool is so fun.

Emma, Samuel, Miles

How many grandkids can you cram in Grandpa's hot tub?

Clive, Mikaela, Van, Tate, Miles, Lindsay, Samuel, Emma, Wesley

Friday night, we hit another opera in SF: Puccini's "Tosca". It was great, too.

Saturday, we went up to Montalvo for a hike in the morning, I think, and barely made it back for Saratoga's legendary Farmer's Market where they have snow cones and great Indian food. It was delish. We swam some more in the afternoon, and then it was off to my cousin Beth's house for her annual Fish Fry. So much fun. What an awesome entertainer she is. So generous and hospitable. I think it runs in the family...

Sunday, we sang in Church. We sang a really nice arrangement of "Come, Thou Fount of Every Blessing". Neil Rutman accompanied us. Oh, I have to mention here. Back when the week before the reunion was going to be the "opera week", my parents invited their friend, Neil Rutman, to come out for some opera and a visit. So, he had been visiting for the week, also. It was so much fun to have him at our reunion. He was just like one of the family: joining in on all the fun, staying up until 2am talking, eating too much. Neil also happens to be a concert pianist, so when I say that he accompanied our musical number in church, you can only imagine how amazing it was. Really, I wish I had a recording of it. (Didn't Bill Moon set up some kind of high tech recording system in our chapel at some point? Wish we had used it.) The rest of Sunday was just spent enjoying each other. I think at some point the sprinklers got turned on, because it was a scorcher. I wouldn't know because I got a 2 1/2 hour nap. Can you say "HEAVEN"? Ahhhhh.

Sprinklers and Soda. What more do you need on a hot summer afternoon?

Julia

Emma. Who's her hairstylist?

Wesley, Tate, Clive

An impromptu concert by Neil

Another somewhat imprompto concert by the rappas: Mikaela and Lindsay

Monday, we spent around the house again.

Julia

Another fun thing about Grandpa Call's house: the Murphy Beds, sleeping outside

Tuesday, we went up to San Francisco. We did the street slides last Thanksgiving, but Matt and Leslie hadn't tried them. They were a lot of fun again. We also got clam chowder in sourdough bread bowls. We got a cool view of the bridge from the southwestern side near the old army barracks. We also enjoyed the view up at the Marin Headlands. What a beautiful city. I love San Francisco.

At the streetslides. How many Grandpas are as prepared as ours?

Home-made lemonade and cookies

Conner even did the street slides with his cast as Emma jumps out of the way.

Natalie will love me for this picture.

Emma, Baby Dean, Grandpa, Neil, Miles, Wesley

Grandma and Baby Dean

Does anyone else see a future Christmas card picture?

Grandma and Grandpa Call and all the grandkids that could make it.

Wednesday, Matt and Leslie and crew left, and the rest of us headed up to Yosemite. Just the drive down the valley floor into the park is almost worth the four hour drive. El Capitan is just awe-inspiring. The falls were all pretty full. I just love Yosemite. I like to say it's kind of where Tim and I fell in love, but when I say that in front of him, he's like, "We did?" Thanks, hon. We went there the August after we first started dating in the spring of 96. He came out from Syracuse, NY for a visit during break from physical therapy school. Then, we've been there a few times since. It's just sort of our favorite place.

Since Conner was more comfortable on the floor, all the cousins got down on the floor and ate their ice cream there, too.

Tate, Conner, Julia, Lindsay, Cooper, Wesley, Miles, Samuel, Tim

Some of the "wild-life" in the meadow of the valley

a peek inside one of the tent-cabins where we stayed at Curry Village

Thursday was definitely one of the highlights of our trip. Tim and I hiked Half-Dome. Wow!!! It was amazing. We left at about 4:30am and hiked by flashlight until it got light at about the Mist Trail for Vernal Falls. We hardly saw anyone on the whole hike up. I still can't tell if I just really like hiking now or if I just really loved spending 8 hours alone with my husband. Either way, it was a real treat. The whole time we were hiking, I just kept on looking up at Half-Dome and saying to myself, "I see no feasible way to hike up that." It is wild how freaky the last part of the hike is. At one point, we were like halfway up the cables. By now, I could not look up, I could not look behind me, I could not look to the right, I could not look to the left. Every view was nauseatingly high and exposed. I just kept my eyes right on my feet. I finally stopped and just said out loud to Tim who was like 20 feet behind me, "Tim, I don't know if I can do this." He said, "It's alright, hon. Whatever you want to do. We can be done. We can go down." Then, I thought to myself, "But, my sister has done this." And my feet kept going. It was so wild at the top. I can't believe I made it. It was awesome. The way down was crazy, too. I just held on for dear life. I'm glad they had the pile of gloves at the bottom, because I definitely needed them, especially for the way down.

HALF DOME

At the bottom still before dawn

At the bottom of the cables. Just looking at the pictures, I still can't believe I did it.

a view of the cables behind us

Meanwhile, the other part of our group (our five kids, Cath, Emma, Tate, Natalie, Chris, Conner, Cooper, Grandpa and Grandma) went on a hike to the bridge below Vernal Falls. Grandpa, at the last minute, had the great idea of going up to meet us at Nevada Falls with Lindsay, Miles, and Samuel. Miles and Grandpa really wanted to see Nevada Falls. My Dad has this funky thing with the nerves in his feet, so I didn't trust him to be alone with just Miles. I sent Tim back up with them to make sure it all went well. That left me to hike down with the complaining, exhausted Lindsay and Samuel. I had just enough water for my own trip down and one snack. Nice. Thanks, Dad. Some other dad on the trail was kind enough to give us some water when he heard my kids' grumbling. Nice. Anyway, we all made it back down safe and sound.

Then, we had the brilliant idea to go canoing down the valley on the Merced River not knowing that the bridge where we put in was the beginning of a chunk of the river that had been closed due to rough waters and a drowning in 2007. Yep. We went down it with Cath, Emma, Tate, and me in one canoe. That is we were in the canoe, until we capsized the canoe. Hey, do you want to know a way to not be sore the day after you hike Half-Dome? Just take a nice ice bath in the Merced River. That'll cure any sore muscles. Seriously, I wasn't even sore. But back to the story. Basically, Catherine and I both are terrible canoers. Tim just walked in and read my synopsis of the story and said, "Even if you weren't on a dangerous part of the river, you two would have capsized anyway." Thanks for the support, hon. Anyway, we slammed right into a little island of debris which tipped the canoe over. The image in my mind is of my sweet niece and nephew going under the capsized canoe for a second, until Catherine and I frantically tipped it back over. It was still immersed, and the water was too deep to touch bottom. Luckily, two really helpful, sort of drunk guys jumped in and saved us. After we got out, we heard that the river was closed in that area. Cute. Meanwhile, Tim stopped to help us, but my Dad just kept on going with Samuel and Miles in his canoe. See ya! We ended up, er, Tim ended up pulling the canoes out to the nearest road. We tracked down my Mom who had the canoe trailer and eventually found my Dad. I was a nervous wreck: totally freaked out, totally over-reacted. I mean, come on. I had used up all my emotional energy to hike Half-Dome. It was too much. Wow.

Tim took this nice shot of Natalie and me betwixt two trees. He's really got potential.

Even Yosemite is too boring for Grandpa.

Friday was my sweet Lindsay's 11th birthday. We enjoyed a few more views and short hikes and headed home. Cath was the best and sort of staged a surprise birthday for Lindz when we got home. She made one of those candy bar posters for her and got a cake. It was great. Then, you guessed it, more swimming.

Aunt Catherine escorting in the Birthday Girl

the candy poster, a relic from Aunt Catherine's days as a cheerleader, I think.

The whole crew singing "Happy Birthday" to Lindsay: Cath, Caroline, Grandma Call, Uncle Chris, Aunt Natalie, Julia, Uncle Keith, Lindsay, Cooper. (I like Keith's face the best.)

Saturday was the Fourth of July. The kids rode their decorated bikes in the town parade. My parents had their annual Young Adult party. We swam some more. My sweet friend, Lisa Hiserman, came down from Napa with her family. It was so fun to see her. She is so great. I should also mention that I saw my sweet friend, Jen Hansen, but I can't for the life of me remember what day that was on. It was so great to talk to her too. Old (meaning long time...) friends are the best.

The Grand-daughters: Lindsay, Emma, Julia
A quick family picture in the t-shirts Grandma got for us all.

Lisa and I

Uncle Dan firming up his position as "favorite Uncle"

Wesley holding the toad at Uncle Dan's house

hanging out by the fire by the pool, so fun

Sunday, we went to Church again at my parents' ward, came home for a family dinner, and then headed off to the airport. It was such a fun trip. We were all exhausted by the time we made it home at 1am Monday morning.

Father's Day 2009

2009-06-22T15:59:00.000-06:00

The highlight of the week was definitely Father's Day. A good friend helped me out and did a last minute photo shoot of the kids. We didn't even need to do a head swap. I got the pictures out to both grandpas, and we were good to go. I added some other shots she got of the kids. None of them are perfect, but I love them.

This is the one we used for the Father's Day presents.

I keep on finding stashes of gum balls and mouthfuls of gum...

Also, we had our first swim meet. The kids all had a fun time. It was a bit long. I can't believe they do this twice a week for the whole summer.

Everyone in the "heating area" before their races. It was a lot of fun. I just love seeing the kids all tired out.

Catch-up

2009-06-22T15:28:00.000-06:00

I should be packing 5 kids and myself for two weeks in California with Grandma and Grandpa and aunts, uncles, and cousins galore. So, in other words, it's the perfect time to up-date my blog that I've lapsed on for two weeks.

The biggest two events of last week were: Cub Scout Day Camp for Miles and the piano recital for Lindsay and Miles. Also, we've now started daily practices for swim team.

Cub Scout Day Camp is always so fun for Miles. It's funny because there's another Mom whose son chose not to go this year. He'd done everything the year before and just thought that it didn't sound like that much fun. I just thought to myself that I don't think I could ever fathom any of my kids (or myself for that matter, let's be honest I know where they get it...) passing up a chance to be with a bunch of kids having fun. I was so glad that this year I was able to go for a day and pal around with Miles, too. He always amazes me at his ability to be sooooo distractable in certain situations, but then still be able to concentrate for 15 minutes straight gluing tiny beads onto a dog tag in the exact replica of an American Flag. Seriously, is this the same guy who can't remember that the empty Cool Whip tub in his hands is supposed to be heading for the recycling bin, because two feet from the kitchen he spotted something that made his mind trail off onto another tangent? Funny kid. It really was great to hang out with him.

The piano recital was a bit of a debaucle. I, well, how can I put this? hmmmm. Well, honestly, I had just been in a very bad mood all day Saturday, we hadn't found a babysitter (they had specifically asked that toddlers not come - although of course when I got there, there were several dotting the audience), and I was afraid that my bad mood (which was totally my problem) would get interpreted by the kids as disappointment in their performances. Anyway, long story short. I found a last-minute babysitter, was able to run down to the performance, and sit by my dear husband for the recital. I, unfortunately, missed Miles' song, but I got to hear Lindsay's. Tim vidoe-taped both of them. I was really proud of both of them. Lindsay really put herself on the line. She was extremely nervous to perform in a recital again, and she did an absolutely great job. Miles, on the other hand, wasn't in the least bit nervous and totally nailed his song, too. I even heard a nice little old lady compliment him on a job well-done at the reception afterwards. So cute. He was tickled.

Anyway, here are some pictures.

Wait, these can't be Cub Scouts...

Ahhhh, here the Cub Scouts are!

Here's MY Cub Scout.

The special guests of the day: the local Police Dept's S.W.A.T team. My personal favorite was the guy whose specialty was "Less-Lethal Force". What is that exactly...

Here they are outside their recital. How cute are they?

And then, some from swim practice. I've got to give them some credit. It has not been a very warm summer yet. I keep joking with my sis that we've swapped Colorado weather for Seattle weather. It's been sunny in Seattle and cold and cloudy here. Brrrrrr.....

One more: the first veggies harvested from our garden. Okay, the cucumber and tomato I still had to buy from the store, but the lettuce underneath is from our garden. The cukes and tomatoes are still a-brewin' out there. I don't think there's been enough sun yet.

First Full Week of Summer

2009-06-07T21:55:00.000-06:00

MON: We had a birthday party for a friend in the ward, Lupe Moline. She had never had a birthday party before, so we decided to throw one for her. We had a few families over from the ward and cooked hot dogs and hamburgers. It was fun. It's just always good to get together and get to know people better.

Also, made another trip to the orthodontist's office. Apparently, eating "Dots" can be bad for braces. Who woulda thought? I wonder how many extra trips we'll make for Miles. Sigh.

WED: I had JURY DUTY!!! Talk about scrambling, I only found out at about 9pm on Tuesday that I was for sure called in. Eeeks. It was wild trying to find someone to replace me for the day. How wonderful a blessing are good friends. I didn't have to leave here until around 8:20ish to get downtown on time, so I left Lindsay here and in charge (Julia sleeps in until around 9:30 most mornings. I know, I shouldn't brag. She's a thumb-sucker, so I'll pay the price someday.). My friend, Prairie, got here at 9. I dropped Miles and Samuel at another friend's house on my way downtown. Both of these lovely women were willing to watch my people for an entire day, interrupting their busy lives. Also, I had another Mom who picked up Lindsay and took her to her library training class, and then, took her to her French Horn class. After French Horn, Lindsay has violin. She went home after that with a friend.

I got all that coordinating of people and places done. I had two or three books stashed in my purse for boring moments, and I was only needed until 10AM. Phew! A friend had just served for a full week on a jury last month. What would I have done if that happened to me?

I have to admit that the whole process was fascinating, and I felt very patrotic. What a country we live in!!

THURS: Swim Team started this morning. The kids are going to have fun doing swim team this summer. I feel like it's something they are already naturally good at (thanks to Grandpa Call's pool), and I hope it's something that will inspire them to give their best efforts. We'll see.

Also, that day Samuel got invited to go with a friend to his Vacation Bible Camp for the morning. I think it's always a good experience to realize that there are lots of churches that teach about and love Jesus. He had a fun time.

FRI: The weather has been really weird here so far this summer. It's been really rainy and "moody". It's been great for our garden which, by the way, is growing like mad. It's fun to go out there and see the differences every day. It looks like we might be able to "harvest" some lettuce soon. We've already used some parsley, too. Sooo, we just putzed (is that a word? we use it all the time in our family, especially to describe the way most of the kids approach anything they consider work...) around the house getting little things done that need to get done.

SAT: Some more of the same. I hit a really good $1 sale at a consignment shop here in town. It was sort of a mad house, but I think it was worth it. With so many kids, there's always going to be something I can buy.

SUN: We were actually on time and peaceful getting to Church. Now that's a modern-day miracle. We brought Julia home after about 20 minutes of nursery. I thought she felt a little hot, but no one else did. Then, after she just wasn't acting like herself, the nursery leader brought her to us. We took her home for a nap. She seemed better after her nap, but then, by 7pm, she was ready for bed. We also had a family in the ward over for dinner. They just moved here from Kentucky. It was nice getting to know them better.

There was a beautiful double rainbow in the sky tonight between cloudbursts. Lindsay got a picture of it. I guess you can't quite see the second rainbow, but it was beautiful.

Quote for the day:

2009-06-04T22:10:00.001-06:00

We had a family over for dinner on Sunday. Their Dad is a periodontist in town. They actually live in south-central Fort Collins and are not only in a different ward than us but also a different stake altogether. It was our first time meeting the whole family, though Tim knows the dad pretty well because of work. They have four kids that are similar ages to ours, so it was a lot of fun.

We did the usual visiting and chatting and getting to know each other. Then, we sat down for dinner. Tim asked Sam to give the prayer on dinner. Sam was so sweet.

Sam: "Thank thee for the food. Please bless the food."

Then he hesitated. I almost added, "Thank thee that the Johnsons could come over." But he remembered.

Sam: "Thank thee that our friends could come over."

Wesley (in a not so quiet whisper): "They are NOT our friends."

Nice. We all couldn't help busting up with laughter. Never a dull moment with that kid around.

A Parenting First...

2009-06-04T22:01:00.001-06:00

And with five kids, you know it's got to be something weird, if it's only now happened to me. All right, all you readers out there (I'm pretty sure there might be a grand total of 5 of you...hee, hee), if you are weak stomach-ed or faint heart-ed, DO NOT READ ANY FURTHER. And let me just say now that, NO, I do not have any pictures of this incident. The mental picture is emblazened in my mind forever.

So, I have the boys and Julia in the bath. Yes, that's four kids in the bath. (I can't believe I'm actually writing this down...sigh). Thinking back, I seem to recollect that Julia had some pretty potent gas before the bath, but there was nothing in her diaper. We just went along with the bath as normal. I'm gettin' people sham-poo-ed (a little foreshadowing for you) and all cleaned up when I notice that Julia has assumed a strange position at the shallower end of the tub. I look over and see a little something on her back side, if you know what I mean. Thinking about it now, I'm not sure why I made the next choice. Maybe I thought it would be too hard to get all three boys out of the bath quickly. Maybe it was a positioning thing. Her little fanny was pointing right towards me. Probably I'll never know why I did what I did next. Really, don't keep reading if you want to still respect me in the morning. I reached over and caught the BM with my own two bare hands!!!! SO SICK! The boys couldn't have been more delighted. It was right up their potty humor alley. I was so grossed out. But I'm tellin' ya. That option was way easier than option B with the BM getting into the bath water and having to do an emergency evacuation of the tub in 3 seconds or less while the darned thing floated around and contaminated everyone.

So, now, are you sufficiently grossed out? I certainly was.

June is Bustin' Out All O-o-ver!!

2009-06-04T21:19:00.000-06:00

I'll never get over the time when I was living at my Aunt Tami's house in Provo for a spring semester at BYU. I was in the bathroom and just feeling the happiness that is spring, so I sang that phrase out loud. Seriously, someone from their neighbor's house (the Ostergars) sang out the other half of the phrase in reply. It was such a classic moment.

Lindsay had her last day of elementary school. She had a graduation ceremony on Thursday. She looked so beautiful and grown up. I am so amazed at the young woman she is becoming. some of the other girls really dressed inappropriately. I was so glad that she hasn't tried to look and act older than she is.

The kids had their last day of school last Friday. It's always such an exhilarating moment: School's out!!! I've been apprehensive about summer coming. I don't always (let's see how to put this nicely but still honestly...) get the most out of summer. There aren't a lot of kids in our neighborhood, and when left to entertain ourselves, the kids and I sometimes get on each others' nerves. Sad but true. Oh well. Tim is so sweet. He's been constantly saying, "So, who can we have over? Invite someone over for lunch tomorrow. Who are you going to see?" I guess it's easier for him to plan something in advance than to come home after a long day's work and have to pick up the pieces of a failed day at home. Love that man.

Anyway, so to celebrate the beginning of summer, we had a few families over for s'mores and festivities. We have a huge backyard, and it really can absorb a lot of people. We had fun.

Here are some pictures from the week:

Lindsay with her diploma

the kids after the bell rang for summer: Miles, Samuel, Lindsay, Evie (a neighbor), and Wesley

Our neighbor, Noah, had a bouncy house for his birthday party. The party was only in the morning, but they had the bouncy house the whole day. We all got a chance to play in it.

Tim, Miles, Noah

Wesley, Luke, Mom, Julia

Julia and Mom

The Class of 2021!!

2009-05-24T16:31:00.000-06:00

Samuel had his Kindergarten Graduation on Thursday. Grandma Helen and Grandpa Joe were able to be here for it (Grandma Helen needed a crown, and their visit luckily coincided with "graduation".). Also, Daddy got to take off work for it. We are sure proud of Samuel. He has worked hard all year. He's been quick to sit down and do his writing assignments each week. He's also been a good friend to his classmates. His teacher says that he is very good at being kind and respectful. What a sweetheart. We love this kid!!

Okay, so it scanned in kinda weird, but you get the idea. Isn't he a cute graduate?

We also finally got our vegetables planted in our vegetable garden. Some of everything: tomato, zucchini, yellow squash, beans, swiss chard, bok choy, red onion, cantelope, butternut squash, and some herbs. Now, we'll see if it grows. It's been raining/drizzling ever since we put it in. Maybe that's a good sign. My in-laws, who were visiting from Western New York (where the weather was perfect this weekend), were so nice about the rainy weather. They just kept on saying that it was good for the garden, too.

Maybe I'll find some pictures from their visit.

look how curly Lindsay's hair is getting

the May Birthday Boys: Joseph and Miles Joseph

the happy hikers: Samuel, Grandpa Joe, Miles, Tim, and Julia

Wesley on the front porch

Miles with his new braces

more of my bed-headed beauty, Julia

Zieht uns hinan!!

2009-05-18T21:50:00.000-06:00

I sing with the Larimer Chorale here in Northern Colorado. It's an audition, non-professional, community choir. Wherever we've lived, I've always found a choir like this: Buffalo, San Jose, Syracuse, Salt Lake City. It's a great outlet for me, and even if the quality of the group isn't very high, singing the great choral masterworks (Brahms Requiem, Beethoven's 9th Symphony, etc.) is still so enriching. It's like getting to see Michaelangelo's "David". Really. It's been such a privilege all these years to sing in community choirs. Sooo, back to the Larimer Chorale. It happens to be an incredible group. Mostly, it's incredible because of the conductor we have right now. He's so skilled. Every rehearsal seems like part private voice lesson, part musicology lecture, and part stand-up comedy routine. It's so great.

So, this past week we got the once-in-a-life-time chance to perform Mahler's Symphony #8. It's sometimes referred to as "The Symphony of a Thousand". It has two full choirs, a children's choir, an extra brass choir, a huge, beefed-up orchestra, and NINE soloists. For it's premier performance, there were over 1,000 people on the stage; hence, the nickname: "Symphony of a Thousand". That's why it was a "once-in-a-life-time" chance to sing it. It costs so much to produce, and it can be such a logistical nightmare to prepare and perform that it's not done that often.

It was such a thrill. When we were in California over Thanksgiving, the San Francisco Symphony performed it under Michael Tilson Thomas. My parents, Catherine, and I went up to see it. We were totally blown away. As the conductor of this weekend's performance wrote in the program, "Mahler's 8th is not just a symphony. It's an event. It really is the original surround sound." He was right, too.

The Symphony has two parts. The first part is a setting of an old chant text, "Veni Creator Spiritus". The second part is a setting of the final scene of Goethe's "Faust", a sort of meta-physical look at man's attempt to overcome his own self and weak tendencies. The last words are my absolute favorite: zieht uns hinan or lift us higher. Mahler's 2nd Symphony has a choral part, too. It's referred to as The Resurrection Symphony, and the last movement is about being lifted or resurrected. I love that one, too. But somewhere in my lowly, little soul, I think that the miracle of being able to overcome my own personal weaknesses through the Atonement of Jesus Christ will be a bigger and much more difficult miracle than the miracle of the Resurrection. Here are the words at the end of the symphony. I just love them.

Lift your eyes!
All that is earthly is only an outward symbol;
That which is inadequate, here will be sufficient;
That which is inexpressible, here will be manifest;
The Eternal Feminine (the Virgin Mary, or as I like to interpret it, the grace of the Savior)
Leads us higher!

If you ever get the chance to see this piece, really you should go see it. It's only about 80 minutes long, but it's magnificent in its message and its emotional force. What an awesome week...which leads me to talk about how this week was possible.

We had 3 hour rehearsals Thurs night and Fri night down in Bolder which is about an hour away. Then, there were the two performances: one on Saturday night and one on Sunday afternoon. Tim had some training in Bend, Oregon, so I needed to find some child care. If you count up those hours, you find a pretty hefty babysitting bill at the end of it all. So, I called up my lovely mother a couple of months ago to see she if she was up to the task. She said she'd come out and have my Dad join her. They could babysit during the week and then go and see me perform it on the weekend. They love Mahler, too! So, Tim flew out Wed afternoon. Mom flew in Wed afternoon. Dad flew in Friday morning (We picked him up and went over to the Denver Zoo. Why, you ask yourself, would Caroline choose to go to the zoo after a 3 hour standing only rehearsal the night before, knowing she had another that night? I should have known when I saw the 2 dozen busses in the parking lot that I was destined to not enjoy our trip to the zoo. Why don't I see these things coming? Anyway, to say the least, I was a cranky mommy at the zoo, so no one enjoyed themselves. sigh...). They watched the kids. Tim got home Sat afternoon. We got some babysitters and headed down for an evening of Mahler in Bolder. It was such a great night. We had a nice dinner at this Italian place on Pearl Street, and I still made it on-time for my 6:30pm call. Phew!

So, I'm still recovering from all the excitement. Little phrases of the music keep floating through my brain. It was so wonderful. But now, back to reality: I spent all day cleaning. (My ulterior motive: if I get the house totally clean, then I can justify putting time and energy into my flower garden idea. Why do I always need incentive to clean?)

Blicket auf! Zeiht uns hinan!! Lift your eyes. His Love/Atonement lifts us higher!!

And....here are some random pictures from the week. I think I even got some at the zoo before we all fell apart. Poor Grandma and Grandpa...

I got to chaperone Miles' class field trip to the Water Treatment Plant, another perk of Grandma visiting. I don't get to do this kind of stuff enough. It was fascinating. I just kept on imagining a James Bond movie or something. You could really see how someone could do some serious damage to our infrastructure if they wanted to. Do you all have drums of clean water in your food storage? Eeeks. We only have one. I'd better get more.

That same day Lindsay had her 5th Grade Exhibition. It's a project that they've worked on since January. The central theme was "Human health is affected by changes in ourselves and in the world around us", and yes, my child chose HIV/AIDS to study. Nice, an STD. She really focused more on the microbiology/immunology of it all, though. It was fun.

Julia, looking at the elephants.

Miles and Samuel with the elephants

feeding the Lorikeets

No visit from Grandpa Call is complete without a trip to The Dollar Store or Chuck E. Cheese. The kids lucked out this time and got both. Here's from your favorite place and mine (especially on a Saturday afternoon....): CHUCK E. CHEESE. Julia's not too sure about this ride.

Miles is in heaven.

Wesley hammin' it up, and yes, it looks as though the girl behind him is picking her nose. Nice.

Lately, Wesley loves to steal my camera and take random pictures. Here, he has caught his little sister in one of her favorite past-times: taking apart Mommy's wallet. Is it scary that she already loves shoes, credit cards, chocolate, and jewelry? What a woman!!

WESLEY, self-portrait, circa 2009

Miles' 9th Birthday

2009-05-11T22:25:00.000-06:00

Monday, May 4th, was Miles' 9th birthday. It's hard to believe that he's 9 years old. I always feel this pressure to make my kids' birthdays be extra special. I guess it's just the mom-guilt thing I've got goin'. I think he had a great birthday this year. I know I had a great time celebrating with him. I just love this kid!!

For breakfast, he ordered the Grandpa Call special: waffles with strawberries, ice cream, and whipped cream. I don't think I had my camera out at this point, but just imagine: kids + ice cream + in the morning before school = heaven for kids. I have to admit I enjoyed mine, too.

Then, I brought some donuts to school for his celebration there. After school, I surprised him by taking us all to see the new Disney movie: Earth. It's the one that was released on Earth Day this year. It was awesome and totally up my kids' alley. We were the only ones in the entire movie theater, so I wasn't worried at all when Julia lost interest and started walking around the place, talking loudly. It didn't even phase me when Lindsay started in on her antics and ran to the absolute top of the theater for some reason or another. We never quite know with her...

Daddy was able to meet us at the movie. Then, we all went to Old Chicago for some pizza. The original plan was to go to Olive Garden per Miles' request, but we were all too full on popcorn and soda to eat a full meal. Plus, the Old Chicago was right there by the movie theater. Thanks again, Dad, for being the "voice of reason" and suggesting we wait until Grandma and Grandpa are here to go to Olive Garden.

Also, this week we got the rest of our vegetable garden in. Well, not ALL the way in, but it's all completely ready for the seeds. It's even "Daisy proof". Tim rigged up a great little fence that should keep her (and the bunnies in our neighborhood) out of our veggies.

I even tried to get a little artsy in some of my pictures. I hope you're all as impressed as I was. I just switched around some of the settings on my little digital camera. Remember the one that had the mysterious black dot in the upper right corner of every picture. Well, good news: the dot is somehow gone. I have no idea how or why. I'm just grateful.

Well, I'm violating my own personal curfew here. It's after 10:30pm, and I'm still on the computer. That's a no-no.

Here are the pictures:

Miles with his make-shift blind-fold (an extra outfit for Julia from my purse) Hey, sometimes ya gotta improvise, people! :):)

Ready to open his presents

Oooohhh, the excitement: a new WII game and CANDY!!!

I know, I know. I really out did myself.

Aaand, just for fun: the kids dressed up on "Dress Like Your Teacher Day"

A fun day at the park recently

Getting the final "riggings" done on the vegetable garden

My attempt at "artsy": a spring bud on our apple tree

There's just something about a warm, summer evening. Dusk when it's still warm and kind of late is just about our favorite. Julia had a late nap, and so she got to stay up and play with brother.

Getting spoiled with breakfast in bed on Mother's Day!! I am so blessed.

It's May!

2009-05-03T20:52:00.000-06:00

Definitely, the highlight of my week was going to BYU Women's Conference. It was nice to be relieved of the stress, work, worry, energy, etc. of the kids for a few days and just concentrate on filling my "reservoir". I flew out Wednesday night with my sweet friend Janell Lambert. I had to arrange all sorts of child-care for the kids for Thursday, but Friday, Tim was able to hold down the fort. I'm so grateful for the great profession he chose that gives him that flexibility.

Anyway, Thursday and Friday were spent in classes. Seriously, Thursday, I figured, I sat in the Marriott Center for like 9 hours (I went a couple of hours early to participate in the "Instant Choir" which was led by a friend from my BYU days. It was so fun to sing under her again.) Then, there was a couple hour break where we went down to the Smith Field House and put together hygiene kits, etc. Altogether, I think the Women's Conference assembled something like 13,000 hygiene kits. I might have been more, though. I'm not sure. It was awesome. I just kept on thinking as I folded two white towels together over and over again that these towels could be going to a hurricane victim in the Dominican Republic or an earthquake survivor in China. It was amazing.

Then, we came back for a Concert in the Marriott Center. I thought I wouldn't be into it. I'm not really one for the whole Mormon "Pop" stuff, but it turned out to be a pretty good concert. Jenny Oaks Baker played a few numbers on her violin that were seriously incredible. Then, there were a few other people who were more "pop" ish, but they were still enjoyable. I have to admit that Hillary Weeks was great. She was as much a stand-up comic as she was a singer-songwriter, and it was so nice that all of her jokes were clean and not vulgar. It was great.

I'd say the main thing I gained from the conference was a renewed committment to the basics: daily scripture study and personal prayer, regular temple worship, daily family prayer and scripture study. Nothing new and exciting, just the same thing they say to us over and over again. I'm glad for the renewed committment. It's something that has sort of been building in my life over the past month. It started with General Conference. Then, that very evening I got to sing Handel's "Messiah" with my community choir out here in Fort Collins: The Larimer Chorale. It was so enriching. Then, we had Easter which is always inspiring. Then, I was asked to speak in Stake Conference. It's been a great month for me spiritually. I've really appreciated and felt the growth that can come from fervent prayer and scripture study.

One cute, memorable story. Ann M. (as in Monson) Dibb spoke one morning. She seems to really resemble her father. She's a really natural, enthusiastic speaker with lots of great stories. Anyway, she spoke right after Sister Andersen (the wife of the newest member of the Quorum of the Twelve Apostles). She got up and said, "It's so exciting to hear about what your family is going through with your new calling. I remember when that happened in our family. I was 9 years old when my Dad was called to be an Apostle. At that age, it's so exciting. The photographers come to the house, and you get extra attention. But then, we've just had a life-time of sharing our Dad with the world, and it's been wonderful. As he's gone out and been magnified through his service, he's come home and shared all that wonderfulness with us." Can you even imagine how much they've had to share their dad/husband? Wow. Anyway, I obviously paraphrased what she said, but that was basically her sentiment. It was just so cute, I thought.

I don't think I took any pictures the whole weekend. I didn't even bring my camera. Oh well. Who wants to see a picture of the boring Mom anyway. :):)

Here's a funny recent picture of a time when I thought I had finished bath-time for Julia, but she, apparently, had other ideas. Here she is after I'd already gotten her out and lotioned and dressed in her jammies. I looked away for one second, and there she was: right back in the bath with "Wabby", as she calls Wesley.