Baby Growing Up

The babies are at it again. Like all of his older siblings, Peter is insisting on growing up and he is not going to stay a little baby for me. This week he has demonstrated his rebellion by standing!! 

 He's so proud of himself for being such a big boy!!

Put your hands in the air and cheer for Peter! Or maybe he's saying "Look Mom, no hands!"

Oh he's so cute. He's taken a few steps but he's not sure on his feet yet. He's going to figure it out soon though. I'm going to miss him crawling around. He's so cute crawling. He's almost a year old, I can't believe how fast babyhood passes.

I told Mel that I'm pretty sure that the next time she sees him, he will be walking! So sad. So Peter's at that, and the little boys are at it again too with wasting useful products. Yesterday Owen emptied Hyrum's body spray all over his chair. I need to add this to his list of messes.

The smell in the teen boys' room is powerful. I had to close the door and leave their window open all day. Thankfully I found and put up the bottle of hairspray which was next to the cologne. I want babies to stay little, but I'm looking forward to the toddlers growing out of this. Someday they will all be functioning adults, like Melodie is. Last night I finally gave Mel her birthday presents that I forgot to give Corey last week to deliver on her birthday.

But that's okay, right? It just helps make the birthday last longer when you get presents a week late! She shared her chocolate with Natalie.

We're glad to have Mel home for a few days and we hope her mature influence rubs off on all of us.

Open Thine Hand Wide

Mel is home for the break. Last night she slept on the floor in Owen and Daniel's room. Today Corey went to Costco and got another nice blow up mattress for Mel to use. We set that up today.

Corey got another mattress for Victor to use. We'll get plenty of use out of mattresses with guests and kids coming home as we are entering that phase of parenthood. So, late Tuesday night/early Wednesday morning, I was waiting for Corey to get back from the airport after picking up Victor. As I waited, I tried to breathe and I posted to the EJC about how we were having a visitor again and that I had been struggling for a few weeks as I anticipated his arrival. I posted it to the EJC and my life coach Holly gave me this helpful guidance: "This will go back to the agreement you and your husband made. Since I have worked closely with you this past year, I will point out that this is a pattern. The feeling bad is likely rooted in not being included in these major decisions. Unless you and your husband can come together on this, it’s not going to come to an end. It’s one thing to live a life of service and another to protect the privacy and rules of your own home – especially during the holidays. Talking about it to other women is not going to solve this. The talking needs to happen between you and your husband." So Corey and I talked about it a little bit. Corey said that he likes to host cause it seems like a simple way for us to bless someone elses' life. I agree. He asked why I don't like it, and I said I find it hard cause it's inconvenient and takes me out of my comfort zone. He also agreed with that. I needed to think and ponder more to find answers about how we are to go forward.

So... today, I was painting something for one of the kids for Christmas, and listened to the October 2019 General Conference as I worked. I started with President Russell M. Nelson's talk "The Second Great Commandment". I was listening and thinking about how we have guests and how I am usually quick to murmur about it (mostly before hand, ...I do ok once they arrive). I received the counsel I was listening for when he quoted Deuteronomy 15:11: "Thou shalt open thine hand wide unto thy brother..." That doesn't sound like hesitancy or holding back, that sounds like love and complete embracing of the opportunity to help my brothers and sisters. So that was great, and then I was listening for more as I "likened it unto myself" and heard this great counsel too:

"Giving help to others—making a conscientious effort to care about others as much as or more than we care about ourselves—is our joy. Especially, I might add, when it is not convenient and when it takes us out of our comfort zone. Living that second great commandment is the key to becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ."

(Bold emphasis mine, italics in original) ...SO, that seems to me like I should be seeking and welcoming opportunities like this to serve. I also felt, from that quote, that being able to repent of my feelings toward these opportunities and to not murmur is going to be a key for ME in becoming a true disciple of Jesus Christ. And I do strive to become more like the Savior and I want to be one of his disciples. This is key: love. The Second Great Commandment. I didn't clue in when I clicked to listen to that talk that the commandment is to love our neighbor. Like I know that's what the commandment is, but like it didn't register. love thy neighbor as thyself - Matthew 22:39. It is key to me becoming more Christlike and  it will also bring me JOY. So, yeah. And right after I finished listening to that, Nicole called and I was excited about that cause I was thinking the whole time that I had to share what I just learned with her. So we talked, and she agreed and she's excited that I set a goal to not murmur about this anymore (cause it WILL happen again).

I shared a little bit via text with Corey about this call to repentance I got from the prophet. And I tried to once again share my analogy of the stress that we each experience with each other's joys (guests for him, babies for me) He joked "I don't see the similarity between having a guest and having a kid" haha. But it is similar - it relates. It's about letting ourselves be instruments in God's hands, it's about welcoming opportunity to serve and love. It's about trusting God and going forward with faith and service. We do that with our kids and with guest. Yes, kids are a longer commitment than a guest for 10 days, but they are both about losing ourselves and trusting God.

Victor has been so nice though. He's just a humble little guy. He's a little nervous to talk with the kids cause he doesn't speak English, so when he isn't gone with Corey, he's in the basement in the dark...

....cause he doesn't want to waste electricity by having the lights on in the whole basement when he doesn't need the whole basement. And he hasn't been using the heater much, cause he needs the two plugs in the outlet to charge his phone and have the lamp on. So Corey saw that and went and got him an extension cord power strip and told him to be a little more demanding. Such a sweet guy. I can share what I have with others. We have so much, seems like if I'm following the Savior, I should share. And so I'm writing this all here to help me remember and get this in my head: I will welcome guests cheerfully and I don't have to make it more complicated than it needs to be. I can share what I have and bless others in small ways. 

Frozen 2

The snow has finally come! We've had a good storm hit and it's very cold - I'd say that made it an appropriate day to go see Frozen 2! We didn't want to risk taking the fiesta out to drive, cause it's not a heavy car and so it doesn't get good traction even in a little bit of snow. So we all piled into the van (we've exceeded car capacity before, and will probably do it again...) It was like a clown car with the 12 of us all in there. We were a little late but the previews were still playing when we got there. Pretty exciting! It's fun to go and take a full row in the theater all for ourselves.

The kids liked it. I thought it was cute too. Peter cooperated (unlike babies on past movie outings...), and I was able to see all of the show. Olaf's song "When I'm Older" was probably my favorite part. So the new stuff today was the movie and the snow. Other that that it was just the usual: carpool, cleaning, cooking, and violin lessons

Here area  few pictures of the girls being weird superheros last night.

They all had names. I can't remember Abi's. But she had weapons in her super hero underwear. Lily's name was "Mysterio"

Sophi was Fox Girl.

It took a little trickery to get Owen to finally take off Natalie's underwear that was part of his costume.... (He was Buzz)

but we were all back to normal today for the snow.

Snow, Dinner, & Funplex

Cold weather is here! And the little boys are ready for it.

I am not. I'm not much of a winter person and don't think I will be unless someday all my babies and toddlers are grown and I actually go skiing or something. But today was good - I was able to made a good dent in cleaning in the basement. I've been reading "It's All Too Much" by Peter Walsh. I've suffered from a messy basement before, and had help in getting it in order, only to have it once again fall in to disarray. You can't organize junk, I need to get rid of the stuff. Let it go. I'm hoping this might be the final time I have to clean it. Simplify simplify simplify...

So, I'm working on organizing the house and family habits. We had a sit down dinner tonight, yay I did it! Having a "sit down" dinner is one of the things that I usually fail at. Usually it is because I don't have a meal ready, so the kids all start to fend for themselves with pb and jelly sandwiches or top ramen. Other times I will have a meal ready but they are not hungry from their after school eating frenzy. (I haven't been keeping the pantries locked) Tonight I had a meal ready with ample provisions - spaghetti, salad, and a good hearty 3 bean chili. Corey brought home bread rolls. So the food was ready this time, but it wasn't much of a "sit down" dinner for a different reason...

It was cute though. So we let them have fun and dance and stand on the bench and talk with food in their mouths. We've about given up trying to enforce table manners... One good thing about tonight was that we were going out for an activity - and we had cookies. Corey held the cookies captive until they helped clean up dinner! So that worked out great - everyone ate, and the kitchen got cleaned. And then we drove up to The Rush Funplex. When we got there, it had been reserved for a private event, doh! We drove 45 minutes for nothing... But then a guy who saw us about to walk away, and who seemed to have some authority, told us we were welcome to stay. He said they are from a LDS Stake and they rent it out once a year for a Young Single Adults Activity, but they had plenty of room for us to stay. So we stayed! And he told us to help ourselves to the pizza too. So we got in for free and got to stay longer than the 90 mins the Get Out Pass allowed, AND it also means we get to go back again to use the Get Out Pass another time! So that was pretty sweet.

And since it was mostly adults that where there, I felt like it was okay for me to take a swing on the trapeze. No picture of me in action, but here's Lily falling through the air

I did the trapeze swing 4 times, it was fun! The hard part was climbing out of the foam cubes, as Abi is demonstrating below.

That was a real workout! Sophi remembered to take off her glasses this time, so that they would not be accidentally eaten by the foam pit monster this time.

Ethan and kids bowled. 

This cute dino bowl ramp doubled as a slide for Daniel!

Wes, Abi, and Lily did the go carts. A great time was had by all.

So we played outside this morning, played inside tonight, we cleaned and we had dinner together... it was a good day.

Sophia's Baptism Day

Today was a very special day for this little girl.

Today Sophia was baptized a member of the Church of Jesus Christ. Corey baptized her - here they are pre-Corey's jumpsuit.  

And with Corey dressed and ready for the font.

Me, Sophi, and Corey.

My phone camera was a bit blurry. I'm almost thinking of switching to an iphone, since Ethan always lets me know how much better their camera quality is. And cause that's one of the things I use my phone for the most. It was a nice baptism. Abi and I gave talks. I shared a little message from Joseph in mine (at the end of this post on his mission blog). Hyrum and Wes gave prayers, the grandpa's were the witnesses for the baptism. My mom, sister, and Mel provided the music for us. We are grateful to be and to have family that are members of the church of Jesus Christ. All of our kids that are 8 and older have been baptized (only 2 are documented here on the blog - Abi's and Lily's. I know I took pictures of all of them. I should find a way to document those before the photos are lost forever and/or forgotten...) Sophi looked so sweet. You gotta love 8 year olds.

She is holding a little keepsake box that they gave her - everyone wrote a message for Sophi or their testimony for Sophi to keep to remember this day). It was a nice simple service. So Sophi's baptism was the highlight of the day. And other than that, with the 3rd week of school under our belts, my body clock is pretty much set to waking up at 5:30. This morning I woke up at 5:09, and so I went to the temple! And I did a session! Good job me.

There was a lovely full harvest moon behind the temple. And the land that I love had it's banner waving in the wind. It looked really cool. This picture doesn't capture that, obviously, but it does help me remember the moment. The sun was up and shining when I was finished. On my way out the flowers wished me to have a good day.

You have a good day too, pretty flowers!

I stopped by Walmart on my way home to get some Epsom salts for Ethan's toe, hoping it heals this time. And I also got some refreshments for guests after Sophi's baptism (soy yogurt, bananas, and frozen berries). When I got home, my next priority was to upload a photo and get it printed, which I haven't done in YEARS. I printed this picture that I took of Sophi yesterday so that we could put it on the little table at her baptism.  

She liked that one better because you couldn't see her teeth. I liked the one at the start of this blog post, but I realized after it was printed up in a 8x10 that you could see the spaghetti sauce that was on her face after dinner, oops! Mel came up for the baptism. But she slept in and was too late for the bus, so my sister Beka was nice and went to pick her up. They were the last ones to arrive, and as they came hustling into the church with their dresses and back packs, I thought they looked like sister missionaries!!

Mel will make a great missionary. She's planning on serving next summer, but we'll see if she gets married first while she's at BYU, ha. The kids were cute during the baptism. 

Mel and Beka did a very  nice musical number.

They played "He Sent His Son"

I hope I can always remember the big and excited smile that was on Sophi's face as she came up out of the water. I hope she never forgets the happiness the gospel brings. She is such a good girl. Another one of my babies is all grown up!!

Lovely Butterflies

Our first two caterpillars finished their metamophosis today! Cue angels singing

Aren't they lovely!!

I've known them since they were babies (Aug 14th), and already they are grown and heading out on their own, how quickly life passes...

I posted these pictures on my "lovely world" flower blog too.

So this one above and below is a girl...

And the pale one on the left is a male. 

Here is how it went. They started to turn dark last night, so I knew they'd come out this morning.

The one on the left looked great and normal.

The chrysalis on the right had me a little worried, I couldn't see it's orange wings very well through the chrysalis. It was just kinda dark all over. And it looked kinda fuzzy inside too around the abdomen... The one on the left came out first. This was our girl.

I had them taped above my desk in the laundry room. I took her outside and kept checking on the other one.

Yeah, it looked a little weird like it had mold inside. I was worried that it had died and wasn't going to emerge, so I kept checking on him. One one of my checks I found him starting to emerge, but stuck and upside down kicking his legs in a panic trying to get out of his chrysalis. I put my finger there for him to grab on, but he was stuck. I tried to peel off the chrysalis and lots of his color stuck the chrysalis, so that’s why he’s pale. Here are the pieces of his chrysalis -

The girl emerged perfectly normal. On the left there is how an empty chrysalis is supposed to look - clear and all intact.

The one that was stuck is something that I’ve never had happen before in all my years as a caterpillar farmer, ha, but I’m glad I was there so quickly when he came out and was able to help him. I just put him outside to hang and hoped for the best. When I checked on him later it looked like his wings had mostly expanded, phew! 

They were just a little misshaped and with some poor coloring, but hopefully it doesn't make a difference in his survival. And if it does, well I guess I'll never know.

To quote P. Sherman "Beauty, isn't he? I found that guy struggling for life... and I saved him!" The girl is showing off her colorful wings... and then she flew up high into the tree. 

I didn't see when the guy left. But I didn't find him on the grass, so here's wishing him a safe life. So while I was attending to birthing the butterflies all morning, I was also constantly checking on our mousetraps in the basement. The kids saw a mouse over the weekend. I went out first thing this morning to get traps. The kids all seemed to accept that this was the way it had to be even before it was dead. And the mouse passed away later this afternoon. When I found him he was twitching and it looked like he was fully alive and that the trap barely caught him by the mouth, so I thought he wasn't dead, doh. I went to tell Corey that I was sad that I was probably going to have to finish the job, but then when I came back with the garbage sack he was dead. Lily was the one who noticed him several times, and she was the only kid around so I told her I had the dead mouse and she came out with me. We told him sorry and then had a quick garbage side funeral service for him. Butterflies and caterpillars - good. Mouse - bad. Skunk - unfortunately they gotta go too. We see deer several times each week. We had another new first last month and had a rabbit in our window well. Deer and rabbits are our friends. Lady Bugs - good. Praying Mantis - cool and fun! Here's one we were playing with on a recent Sunday afternoon (Aug 25) -

Lily's turn...

Ethan's turn...

The fruit flies or other little bettle bugs that find their way all over the house - bad (but they keep the kids entertained. Here's Daniel killing one)

We usually kill spiders too. And always always kill mosquitos!