Late last night Owen lost his bottom tooth! It's been wiggly for a while, and I coaxed him into letting me see how wiggly it was, and I got a good hold of it and it came right out.
We stayed up late working a bit more on bedrooms, and Owen was just falling asleep around midnight. Natalie was still awake and asked if she could be the tooth fairy, I said sure. (They were worried that, given my track record, I'd fail as the tooth fairy, and since this was Owen's first tooth, they couldn't let that happen!) Natalie even gave him a dollar from her own money! Super sweet. She came in to report to me before she went to bed that she had taken care of it. This morning, I was in his room when Owen woke up, and he was so excited to find the money from the tooth fairy under his pillow! A dollar bill, a penny, and a post it note:
"Your a big boy - good job - tooth fairy"
Owen carried the money and note around with him all day. Daniel didn't want to wake up for church today, so I got him dressed as he continued to lay down and then we carried him straight to the car. When we got home, I let him have breakfast. Here's a funny video of him singing as he ate his cereal:
Church was nice. I enjoyed sacrament meeting. Peter does better each week in nursery. Peter taking a nap after church -
Since it's Father's Day, Joseph texted asking for some scrapbook photos of him and Corey. Specifically he wanted this one of Corey holding Joseph's baby picture:
So funny story behind this one: "Sunday morning I took Joseph visiting teaching with me before Corey had woken up. I returned home to see a broken hearted Father not knowing what had become of his wife and child. This is how he looked when I walked in the door. It made me laugh so hard! Corey is so funny! Father and son are joyfully reunited!"
And after that picture I sent Joseph a lot of Corey sleeping with him as a baby -
It is so lovely to sleep with a newborn.
Corey with baby Mel
And baby Ethan...
and Baby Hyrum...
Baby Wes...
We've had a lot of babies. There are lots of fun photos in the scrapbooks. I'll have to figure out how to digitized it all onto the blog someday. I took like 75 pictures today that I sent to Mel, Ethan, and Hyrum, so they could do a fb post if they wanted.
I am glad that I have all these old scrapbook photos.
Corey is a wonderful father.
Sure, it got more challenging as their numbers increased
but Corey was up for the challenge.
1 vs 5 kids - Sometimes they got the better of him!!
Here are some pictures from when we were at BYU - Corey getting his MBA.
Doing school work and also doing dad duty.
I think he was the most fun dad at Wyview - having light saber battles with kids in the complex -
Dominoes at home on the kitchen floor.
Waiting with Hyrum on a family walk to Bridal Veil Falls.
So it was a fun glimpse back at memory lane. Today all the kids called to talk to Corey. We had a nice phone visit and they were able to say hi to Corey's family too, who all came over for dinner. I haven't called my dad yet but plan to before I go to bed tonight, doh! Father's day usually turns more into Husband's day in my life and I don't do much for my dad. I need to do better. I hope it's not too late to call.... if I have a minute away from the kids, which is a little hard when I'm trying to let Corey have a few minutes away from the kids. Maybe I'll write my dad a letter - it's always a nice surprise to get a real letter in the mail, right?
This morning, I went to Costco for a few things for a Father's Day dinner with Corey's family tomorrow. Before I left, I made a list of things for the kids to do and I put it in a prominent space and easy for everyone to see so that expectations are clear:
The idea of a monthly chore is one that Nicole shared with me, and I think that is a very good idea. If it's their job for a whole month, they should really learn how to do it well. We've done week long chores before, but some of them tended to glide by until the week was over and chores changed, so month long should solve that. So there was a lot of stuff that we could have/should have done today, and we did a little bit. But mostly we spent our time switching rooms around. Wes is now with his 3 little brothers all in one room together, which was formerly the all girls room. Moving things out of the girls closet...
A lot of stuff got shoved at the top of the stairs as the transition between rooms was made.
Lily and Sophi are now in what was Daniel and Peter's room. Lily on the bottom bunk,
Peter playing with the train table before it gets moved out.
Abi and Natalie are now in what was Wesley and Owen's room, Abi in the middle bunk, Natalie on top. We are hoping all of Abi's clothes fit in the closet!
Moving day is pretty exciting! Joseph told me that out there in Philly, another person came and joined their apartment/hotel so they had to rearrange things to make room for him, and he had flashbacks to his childhood. One time rearranging in 2013, another time in 2016. It's fun to change things up though. Corey worked in the front room while we all cleaned upstairs. Wes still had English stuff to finish for him to pass that class, so it probably wasn't the best of timing on my part, sorry Corey. But Wes worked on it after we got his desk organized. In the front room, Corey worked and played the Spiderman and the Batman theme songs on the Bose for Peter and he liked dancing to that. Daniel didn't help much, he was practicing his cartwheel flips and was showing me some tricks in my bedroom. The kids worked hard. Their clothes are all done. I worked on the little boys stuff. Peter reading books as I worked -
His little feet, so sweet!
So with my help, the boys room is all clean and nice now, the girls still have work to do. They all have their own desk now, which is good. But Natalie is having second thoughts about rooming with Abi. "Our room is a big mess, and all the stuff is Abi's!" Abi was always accusing her little sisters as being the messy ones, so this new arrangement might reveal who the guilty party really is!
Tonight at 6:00 Natalie had her call time check in before her Cinderella performance today. Wesley drove us down there and even drove on the freeway and we didn't die, so good job Wes! He did great. It was a hot day. When we were getting out of the car at the SLCC Grand Theater, I saw that Natalie hadn't worn her shoes, but I didn't want her ballet slippers to get dirty on the asphalt, so Lily and Sophi carried her for me.
We waited a bit for them to open the theater. Owen had on two left foot flip flops.
That does not look comfortable to wear. But they do match, so good job buddy.
Natalie was one of the bibbidi bobbidi boo fairies. Corey took this little video of her dance. She is on the very far right of the screen at :08 if you want to keep your eye on her from that point.
This wasn't her whole dance. She was sometimes hidden by the black floor light or whatever that thing was in the front. Also after Corey stopped recording, they did this little part where they all had partners except for Natalie, but that didn't stop her! She danced so well and so convincingly with her invisible friend, it was so cute and I was very impressed! Natalie is a great dancer. It was a very well done performance and I was so impressed with the dancers and with whoever manages all of the logistics involved. When I dropped Natalie off, they gave me a wrist band that I needed to have on when I picked her up. After the show was over, I hurried as fast as I could to get in line, but there were a lot of dancers, so it was a long line and we had a bit of waiting until we could see her.
Finally we had our little fairy! This had been a long day for her!
Some flowers for our dancer -
There were a lot of little kids involved in the performance, I wonder how they did it? Natalie said with a bit of sadness "We didn't get to watch any of the dances. We just had to play with toys."
Her cousin Jordyn was a also in the performance. She was Gus Gus and a fairy and in a lot of other dances too. Natalie was like "How come she gets a lot of flowers and I just got one?"
Ummm... it's based on how many times you dance! Jordyn is also performing in the two casts tomorrow too. Again, I'm seriously impressed with the whole production! Wow! A picture of our performers with Corey's parents -
And with sisters and cousins -
Grandpa joining the fun -
We picked up some 10pm Little Ceasars pizza for dinner on the way home (and saw a lot of other dancer families there). It was a good and busy day. I had my fair share of driving, although not as much as yesterday. Wes had driver's ed this morning and had to do the driving range too, so I took him to Skyline, then back to get him from Skyline and take him to the driving range, back in 2 hours to pick him up from the driving range and take him back to Skyline for a driving session. As soon as we got there, he realized he had left his keys in the car at the driving range at Cottonwood High School, darn it Wes! Slight flash back to when forgot his folder for his permit appointment this past Monday... sooo... I turned around and drove straight back to Cottonwood High for the keys then back to Skyline to give them to him. Back at Skyline I sat there and waited for 15 minutes, then 30, then an hour. I was thinking he'd come back and get his driver's permit, but he finally texted me saying that he just drove anyway and didn't tell his instructor. So, then he was almost done (had another 30 minutes) so there was no point in driving home now, so I went to the grocery store for a few things and then back to Skyline. Once he was back, I did point out to him that he had wasted a good 90+ minutes of my day by forgetting his keys, which is fine, it happens, I get it, but just pointing it out that it would be great to not forget things and if you do, to let me know your plan if I don't need to wait for you. Luckily Abi was home so the kids were in capable hands. I didn't bring a book to read though while I waited but I did listen to Follow Him, good stuff. I also was looking for Rise Up by Imagine Dragons cause it sounds like a song of striving and seeking to be better and thinking of our past and where we've come from (which is on my mind after our talk with Wes last night) - but as I was listening to the lyrics, right before the chorus it says "The darkness right in front of me, Oh, it's calling out, and I won't walk away..." And I was like "NO! I will walk away from the darkness!!" So unless it's talking like Indiana Jones stepping off the cliff in an act of faith, I was like No - There's no way I'm going to willfully walk into temptation and sin, and I'm going to teach my kids the same. I get it that sometimes our vision is dark and we can't see what is the right choice or path to take, but we don't need to walk in darkness and we definitely shouldn't willingly go into darkness and danger. Let's walk in the daylight. Moroni 7:15 "For behold, my brethren, it is given unto you to judge, that ye may know good from evil; and the way to judge is as plain, that ye may know with a perfect knowledge, as the daylight is from the dark night." So anyway, after searching for the Imagine Dragons Rise Up song, I noticed an album by some group called Cain, the album was "Rise Up" that came up in the search results and I spent time listening to that too as I waited, and it went along with my Choose the Right thoughts around what W is working through - Rise Up (Lazarus): "Can't you hear the voice of Jesus calling us - out from the grave like Lazarus!" and Yes He Can:
Sometimes I wonder, is He faithful?
Does He see me in my trouble?
Does He understand?
Sometimes I question if He’s able
Can He rescue, can He save me
Again and again?
But when I look back
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes He did
So yes He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes He did
So yes He can
Yes He did
So yes He can
Sometimes those voices try to tell me
I’m forgotten, and I’ve fallen
Too far from His hands
But I know what kind of God He is
And I’m trusting in His promises
I’m believing
And I’m singing
Yes He can
Did He move every mountain?
Did He part every sea?
Yes He did
So yes He can
Did He defeat the darkness?
Did He deliver me?
Yes He did
So yes He can
Yes He did
So yes He can
Cause I’ve seen too much
Now I can’t deny
He’s come through
Every single time
From the beginning until the end
He did, He will, He can
Jesus knows, he understands, he is able to save us. Also the Come Follow me topic this week is a lot on Forgiveness from Doctrine and Covenants section 64. D&C 64:10 was the first scriptures I ever memorized when I was a kid in 5th grade when I felt that I had been wronged by not winning the Social Studies award for my grade, silly memory but I'm glad I learned that scripture! The Lord loves to forgive us, and all we have to do is ASK for him to forgive us, and for us to turn around and FORGIVE OTHERS.
7:50 - take Wes to Drivers Ed, he drove, I am a little stressed out in the passenger seat with a student driver
8:23 - home from Driver's Ed
9:31 - back to pick up Wes from Driver's Ed
9:45 - take Wes to the Driving range at Cottonwood High School, I didn't let him drive
10:19 - home from Cottonwood High
10:50 - take Abi to Zupas
11:21 - home from Zupas
11:47 - go get Wes from Cottonwood High
12:03 - W drove as we went to get Abi from Zupas
12:17 - I drove as we took Abi and friends to Jordan Commons
12:44 - W drove home from Jordan Commons (pretending I can put my foot on a brake)
2:00 - take Natalie to her rehearsal at SLCC Grand Theater
2:25 - drop off Natalie
2:30 - I tried to go to Costco, but I'm stuck in traffic for 25 minutes because construction on 300 W in front of the downtown Costco made it take so long that we only had time to get gas
3:10 - drive back to get Natalie
3:20 - pick up Natalie, head to Jordan Commons to pick up Abi
3:50 - pick up Abi
4:08 - go by Wendy's for 8 Frostys, then arrive back at home where I am disappointed the kids didn't clean up anything while I was gone. Lily was the one with the most free time and I guess she just couldn't bring herself to do anything to help.
5:25 - leave for Sophi's soccer practice and parent meeting (we were late) took SDP
6:39 - head home
7:04 - Corey left with Lily to a clarinet lesson (Thanks Corey for doing that one!)
And now I'm sitting here attempting to slightly decompress for a moment. During each 45-60 minute window that I was home, I'd beg and nag and plead with the kids to help me clean but they wouldn't do it. There were a few feeble attempts, but then they'd get distracted and start singing or playing or coloring. So the house is still a mess.
Just clutter, crumbs and face cards everywhere. And where are the kids? I hear laughter from the backyard and I look out the window.
The big kids have been playing legos in the basement. There are face cards everywhere on the floor. I'm just going to throw them away. Natalie and Sophi have been doing this one "magic" trick for us over and over with the face cards and it was cute the first few times and now I will still do it but I admit I am not fully present when show me their magic skills. Tonight we had a good talk with Wes. Corey is a great father. Wes is a good kid. I want to do better.
Peter driving a car on Corey's head, haha. I'm grateful for my family, for good friends (Nicole said a prayer with me tonight) and for Jesus Christ and his gospel in my life.
Next Monday Abi and Lily will be leaving and will be gone all week at a girls camp. They are going to Zion's National Park at the Ponderosa Campground. They are going to be doing some rappelling and stuff, which will be super cool and fun for them! Tonight they went up Big Cottonwood to practice and they said it was great. Abi said that she went on "the biggest one" and it was so fun.
The biggest one was a 60 foot cliff. Lily went on the biggest one too.
Here is a group pictures of some of girls that are heading out next week.
(They have such good leaders to sent me pictures!)
Lily going down again -
Tonight we also had Corey's birthday cake. The kids were all stuffed from lunch yesterday, and we had our leftovers for dinner, so I decided to save the cake for today. We tried waiting for Corey to come home from work, but even after he got home he was super busy and didn't get a chance to come for a picture and eventually the little kids were done being nice and trying to wait for him, so we sliced it up and served it out. Corey didn't want to eat cake anyway, so it was ok that we had bad manners and ate the birthday cake without the birthday boy present.
And Corey also gave us a good lesson at scriptures tonight. It was something he and Abi had been discussing earlier this week - he talked about our lives and what it is that influences us - is it nature or nurture? Some things are influence by both, but ultimately what we become depends on what WE CHOOSE.
I went on a bike ride tonight, it was a lovely sunset. God is an amazing artist. I bet it's fun to paint a sunset every day!
A few more pictures from Corey's birthday yesterday - I've been a little frustrated this week with the kids. They aren't contributing very well to help our stadium run smoothly. They're just playing the part of the crazy fans that go nuts and just want to party. When I came into my room for a moment of peace and quiet, they came knocking and telling me to take a picture of them. I told them to go away, but they kept knocking. So I gave in, opened it up, and here they are playing some 6 legs turned 4-legged race.
Shortly after that, they moved on to a game of spies. When Corey's parents came by and we had a little visit outside. I came up to my room to grab my phone so I could take a few pictures. I had to crawl through a spy maze of laser lights to get to my phone. Then I army crawled my way back out. Kinda fun and funny, also a little annoying.
Corey, I know it looks like the kids were throwing you a birthday party in here with ribbon streamers as decorations, but it was actually just an intense game of spies. These are laser beams. They used door handles, drawers, and our floor scale to wrap the ribbon around. They had to do it in here because ours was the only room clean enough to do it. They've already trashed the rest of the house. They were very thorough with their ribbons. Back outside for a few birthday pictures. We pulled out two lawn chairs and they sat in their car.
Their car could also be known as the birthday party van.
Then somehow a waterfight started. I wasn't paying attention to what brought this about, but I bet it was that Corey got out the water guns. Daniel, Natalie, and Owen hunting down Corey ~
Eventually the hose came into play and everyone was soaked.
The kids got soaked and they got Corey a little bit wet. I had Peter as my baby shield so I kept sitting in the chair and we didn't suffer too much from any friendly fire.
