Cardboard Slide and Cali Boys

Today the little kids were restless, as usual, and the older kids were bored (also as usual) so we put two and two together and had the older kids make a cardboard slide for their little siblings to play on. Problem solved! The big kids had a project for a bit that got their creative brains working, and now little kids have an energy outlet.

They did a decent job. It took a lot of duct tape that I trust we'll be able to peel off of he banister. And if we can't, I guess it was worth the hours of free time we got from it. The little kids had a blast.

Up and down, up and down.

Owen worked up a real good sweat!

Here is a video of their fun from a Marco Polo I sent to my family.

and two more videos - Owen struggling to get into the sleeping bag, and sliding down together.

Unlike the teenagers, I was not bored today. I picked up Tim Ballard's new book yesterday "The Pilgrim Hypothesis" and enjoyed reading that. I didn't get as far into it as I would have liked, but I can tell this is gonna be a feast. I'm going to read it every chance I have and will share thoughts after I finish. SO good.

Corey bought skis for himself yesterday. He thinks he hasn't had his own skis since elementary school or junior high. So good for him. He got me some too. Abi was my proxy at the ski shop. So I can share mine with the kids my size (like Mel and Abi) until Corey and I are baby and toddler free and spend our winter days up on the slopes together.

After they went to the ski shop, he went to Scheels to have them fix the tire on Owen's bike, and then they went by RC Willey to look at couches. We're just knocking these household projects down one right after another! Good for us for helping the economy. He also went by Furniture Row again and saw that the kitchen nooks we bought were now on sale for Memorial day. So I called them, cause since they hadn't been delivered yet, we could still return them... and I asked if they'd apply the sale price to our purchase, and they said yes, so yay. The new dining set will be here tomorrow.

Joseph and Ethan will have been gone two weeks tomorrow. Seems like longer than that. Ethan shared a fun story from yesterday and how he didn't want to go out and work. He had had a rough day on Friday, and so he was struggling, and it was hot, and he didn't want to go outside "cause it's more comfortable inside..." "And I hate this job" but he played some Mulan "Be a Man" to get himself pumped up to go deal with it, and he did! And then he got 11 sales and led the whole Lancaster area for the most sales that day. Good job Eth!

That is a senior photo that his sax teacher Ray took of him.

We ordered some prints and just picked them up on Friday.

Good looking kid! This is the Ethan of the now, the Ethan that I'm sure has been growing and changing a little out in California, and the Ethan that will be gone and never to return when he leaves for his mission.

When he comes home from his mission, he will be a new man, cause missions change you. When Ethan was still trying to decided whether or not to go to California, something that helped him was this poem that Corey's Dad sent him. Ethan read it and felt that the Him in the future will be grateful to the Ethan of the present if he worked in California now instead of just relaxing. So he decided to go, to be a savior for his future self:

Christmas Eve on the Desert

By Harrison R. Merrill

Tonight, not one alone am I but three —
The Lad I was the Man I am, and he
Who looks adown the coming future years
And wonders at my sloth. His hopes and fears
Should goad me to the manly game
Of adding to the honor of my name.
I’m Fate to him — that chap that’s I, grown old,
No matter how much stocks and lands and gold
I save for him, he can’t buy back a single day
On which I built a pattern for his way.

I, in turn, am product of that Boy
Who rarely thought of After Selves. His joy
Was in the present. He might have saved me woe
Had he but thought. The ways that I must go
Are his. He marked them all for me
And I must follow — and so must he —
My Future Self — Unless I save him!

Save? — Somehow that word,
Deep down, a precious thought has stirred!
Savior? — Yes, I’m savior to that “Me,”
That thoughtful After Person whom I see! —
The thought is staggering! I sit and gaze
At my two Other Selves, joint keepers of my days!

Master of Christmas, You dared to bleed and die
That OTHERS might find life. How much more I
Should willingly give up m present days
To lofty deeds; seek out the ways
To build a splendid life. I should not fail
To set my feet upon the star bound trail
For him — that After Self. You said that he
Who’d lose his life should find it, and I know
You found a larger life, still live and grow.
Your doctrine was, so I’ve been told, serve man.
I wonder if I’m doing all I can
To serve? Will serving help that Older Me
To be the man he’d fondly like to be?

Last night I passed a shack
Where hunger lurked. I must go back
And take a lamb. Is that the message of the Star
Whose rays, please God, can shine this far?

Tonight, not one alone am I but three —
The Lad I was, the Man I am, and he
Who is my Future Self — nay, more,
I am HIS savior — that thought makes me four!

Master of Christmas, that Star of Thine shines clear —
Bless Thou the four of me — out here!

So we had a good phone call with Joseph and Ethan tonight - they are doing well and have lots of fun pest control war stories to share with us. The package with his cap and gown hasn't arrived yet. We were tracking it all day yesterday and it said it would be delivered by 9pm but it wasn't, and it's not out today, so we'll see what the tracking says tomorrow, but I'm going to call UPS. Ethan needs that so he can send in his pictures for the gradation video, and so that he can do his commencement speech for the virtual graduation too. If it is lost or gets returned to me, that would be bad.

Ethan also sent a few vlogs to Corey that were fun for us to watch. E shared some stories of his interactions with gang members and in back alleys where someone just got murdered and about knocking into houses where a lot of not sober people were offering him beer. Ethan also sent a funny polo a few days ago when he and J were at the store, and he teased that shopping with Joseph is like shopping with a little kid. "We walked past the Twinkies and he's like 'I want Twinkies!' and I was like 'Joe! We're not buying Twinkies...'  'I want Twinkies!' and he just spent frikin' like $15 bucks on peanut butter. We have Peanut butter! We don't need peanut butter. And I already bought jam, and he's getting more jam and I was like 'Joe, I already got jam' and he's like 'Was it strawberry?' 'No, it was grape.' 'I want strawberry jam!'" Ha, that made me laugh. Funny. I'm so glad they are having this time together. We didn't think they'd see each other at all because of overlapping missions. Little did we know they'd have this blessing in disguise from coronavirus.