My Oruguita

On Friday, Ethan was singing "Dos Oruguitas" to Katharine, I caught a little bit of it on video before they switched to Smash Mouth, which wasn't as tender of a song, but anyway, I love the Dos Oruguitas song. It's so pretty and it's also fun cause we've been saying that Katharine looks like a cute chubby and squishy little caterpillar. We've had great fortune this summer so far and have some hungry hungry caterpillars in our house. They are eating and eating just like her. Something "inside her is growing..." (the English version of the song says that) It's just a lovely song and I've been listening to it as I hold Katharine and it makes me cry ~ 

Katharine was smiling and laughing at Daniel tonight, it was so adorable!

She is so little and so precious. Two parts of this song that remind me of other lyrics I love - "Don't you hold on too tight" = Brandon Flowers' song Between Me and You - "There's a power in letting go..." I want to hold on to her and I wish she could always be my baby! Just like I wish all my other babies were still here, but I can't hold on to them or keep them this way, but I can savor the moment and cherish the time I have, so I'm trying to do that - Katharine asleep this morning~

Another line in Dos Oruguitas is "...a world that turns, and never stops turning" which makes me think of The Killers Pressure Machine - "Every year goes by faster than the one before..." (And he mentions butterflies in that song too, that one can also make me tear up)

I feel so lucky to have had 13 beautiful babies. It's such a special time, I love it. 

It's so fun to stare and wonder at my little oruguita sleeping. I also love the line "Wonders await you..." As much as I love my babies, I look forward to seeing the wonderful young lady and woman she will grow into. This world is full of opportunity, and wonders await her! 

TWO ORUGUITAS - English version

Two oruguitas

In love and yearning

Spend every evening

And morning learning

To hold each other

Their hunger burning

To navigate a world

That turns, and never stops turning

Together in this world

That turns, and never stops turning

Two oruguitas

Against the weather

The wind grows colder

But they're together

They hold each other

No way of knowing

They're all they have for shelter

And something inside them is growing

They long to stay together

But something inside them is growing

Ay, oruguitas

Don't you hold on too tight

Both of you know

It's your time to grow

To fall apart, to reunite

Wonders await you

Just on the other side

Trust they'll be there

And start to prepare

The way for tomorrow

Ay, oruguitas

Don't you hold on too tight

Both of you know

It's your time to grow

To fall apart, to reunite

Wonders await you

Just on the other side

Trust they'll be there

Start to prepare

The way for tomorrow

Two oruguitas

Cocooned and waiting

Each in their own world

Anticipating

What happens after

The rearranging?

And so afraid of change

In a world that never stops changing

So let the walls come down

The world will never stop changing

(Never stop changing)

(Never stop changing)

(Never stop changing)

Ay, mariposas

Don't you hold on too tight

Both of you know

It's your time to go

To fly apart, to reunite

Wonders surround you

Just let the walls come down

Don't look behind you

Fly till you find

Your way toward tomorrow

Ay, mariposas

Don't you hold on too tight

Both of you know

It's your time to go

To fly apart, to reunite

Wonders surround you

Just let the walls come down

Don't look behind you

Fly till you find

Your way toward tomorrow

Ay, mariposas

Don't you hold on too tight

Both of you know

It's your time to go

To fly apart, to reunite

Wonders surround you

Just let the walls come down

Don't look behind you

Fly till you find

Your way toward tomorrow

💕

Dos Oruguitas - Spanish lyrics - 

Dos oruguitas enamoradas

Pasan sus noches y madrugadas

Llenas de hambre

Siguen andando y navegando un mundo

Que cambia y sigue cambiando

Navegando un mundo

Que cambia y sigue cambiando

Dos oruguitas paran el viento

Mientras se abrazan con sentimiento

Siguen creciendo, no saben cuándo

Buscar algún rincón

El tiempo sigue cambiando

Inseparables son

El tiempo sigue cambiando

Ay, oruguitas, no se aguanten más

Hay que crecer aparte y volver

Hacia adelante seguirás

Vienen milagros, vienen crisálidas

Hay que partir y construir su propio futuro

Ay, oruguitas, no se aguanten más

Hay que crecer aparte y volver

Hacia adelante seguirás

Vienen milagros, vienen crisálidas

Hay que partir y construir su propio futuro

Dos oruguitas desorientadas

En dos capullos bien abrigadas

Con sueños nuevos

Ya solo falta hacer lo necesario

En el mundo que sigue cambiando

Tumbando sus paredes

Ahí viene nuestro milagro

Nuestro milagro

Nuestro milagro

Nuestro milagro

Ay, mariposas, no se aguanten más

Hay que crecer aparte y volver

Hacia adelante seguirás

Ya son milagros, rompiendo crisálidas

Hay que volar, hay que encontrar

Su propio futuro

Ay mariposas, no se aguanten más

Hay que crecer aparte y volver

Hacia adelante seguirás

Ya son milagros, rompiendo crisálidas

Hay que volar, hay que encontrar

Su propio futuro

Ay mariposas, no se aguanten más

Hay que crecer aparte y volver

Hacia adelante seguirás

Ya son milagros, rompiendo crisálidas

Hay que volar, hay que encontrar

Su propio futuro

Staring at the Baby

There have been three things going on here the past two days. 

Thing one is there's been a beautiful baby who is trying to sleep...

She's a little bundle of heaven!

(I painted her tiny finger nails!) 

Sweet little hand!

Thing two is there have been lots of helpers helping me, although sometimes they're not actually that helpful. But they're trying!

And the third thing is there's been a group of people getting absolutely nothing done because we found something more important to do: staring at the baby.

All the kids were in the room for these pictures, Mel was behind the camera.

I admit it, babies are almost hypnotic. You can stare at them for hours. I didn't read my books at all at the hospital. I just stared at this little one. Corey hasn't had much time to join in the staring contest, but he did get a few minutes on Friday.

Not enough for us to make any great strides on her name, but hopefully tomorrow we'll make some progress. 

Here's a little video of her with her eyes open - from this morning at 2:45 am.

Toasty warm after a nap - 

I love how she was holding her thumb here. She did that right after I painted her nails and rubbed it off her thumb. Cutie.

Sweet little baby.

Ok, I guess that's enough pictures for today. We love her!

Home From Brazil

Melodie arrived safely back home from Brazil today! Truth be told - we were not all there and waiting for her when she came out the exit (but we'll pretend we were for a photo op)

We were expecting a 10:30 am arrival time, but then we got an early morning phone call from her. Corey dismissed it, thinking it was his alarm, and then he went to the gym. I answered it when my phone rang 30 seconds after his, knowing that if we were both getting a robo call at 6:15 am, it probably wasn't a robo call. It was Mel, letting us know that she missed her connection in Atlanta. It was probably my fault, cause I had requested an avocado, cause they bring back good memories (last paragraph, an email from 2007 as I struggled through my first international experience. I had been focusing on the trial, but then avocados were the first thing I was able to be grateful for) Too bad for me it didn't make it through customs. Melodie's later arrival time did give me a chance to go mail a package to Hyrum. He needed some more journals, as he was coming up on his last 4 blank pages. I shipped three journals to him, and then I hurried back home to crank out a "welcome home" poster. I had meant to have the kids make posters on Sunday - seemed like a good Sabbath day activity, but we never got around to it. No problem - there were two extra days to still get it done if we were being procrastinators. Still didn't happen. With her later arrival time, we decided to send the kids to school, so Daniel was the only one around to help me this morning. He did a good job writing out the letters I told him - 

I cut up the letters of her name for a MELODIE "sign" and I made a very nice Brazil flag with all the star constellations on it and everything, but those two didn't make it into any of the photos. Corey's parents made the nice black one - appropriately showing how she served in Indiana and Brazil 💕

So we were a little late leaving home and giving ourselves enough time to picking up the kids from school. We parked, ran in, Corey took a left to the baggage claim with most of the kids and I went straight to the Greeting room area, where Mel was standing with my parents, Corey's parents, and Joseph. I got a hug followed by Daniel - 

Joseph said she had only been there like 4 minutes before we came. Corey and the kids were there quickly and there were hugs all around for everyone - Peter! 

Wes!

Owen!

Lily!

Natalie got a hug and noticed Mel's long hair and started braiding it.

Corey got a hug too, but I didn't get a photo of his. Group photo - 

Yay! We're so happy she's home! Melodie and Sister Adams holding babies that they've missed in person - 

Melodie had a little entourage of helpers follow her for her suitcases.

And then we headed out to the cars. 

Melodie noticed the dry air and that she wasn't sweating! It was a nice early spring-ish day. It's been nice weather this week. My parents went back to work, but took Joseph by the Front Runner train on their way home, and the rest of us went to to Chuck A Rama.

It was a late lunch but I also counted it as an early dinner too, since the kids were all very full when we left. We did cut up watermelon for dinner later and that hit the spot. 

jMel started to unpack her luggage a little bit until our Stake President, President England came by to release her from her service at 5:30. Then the moment came and she took off her tag. Corey and she both shed a few tears. It's hard when it comes to an end. I do remember when I came home and was released, that I felt a literal physical weight/stress was lifted off of my shoulders. Much like the stress that Hyrum took on when he was set apart and said he felt like he had a gun to his head, lol. Ethan felt that too (under point #7). It's all good though. I'm sure Mel will have lots to do. Her siblings will keep her busy and I'm more than happy to have her here to help when the baby comes in 3 months. She will probably do a few online classes for school and is going to get back her flute skills. We're so grateful for her testimony of Jesus Christ and for the love she's developed for Him and the people she has served on her mission. We're happy to still have two missionaries out for a few more months until Ethan comes home at the end of June, and again are very grateful to have Melodie home. 💕

Quick Swim

We're doing a little bit of running back and forth from Park City this week. We came home yesterday morning at 8:20 to get ready for church and to say happy birthday to Joseph. We didn't go back up to PC last night cause we had the usual carpool and school routine this morning, but Corey and Wesley headed up there after lunch cause it makes a nice quiet place to work. At home I tried to do a little bit of lesson preparation, but I had a little monkey on my back. 

Well, mostly on the back of my chair but he was climbing on me a little bit. 

He's a cute character. I took these pics to share with our missionaries of what scripture study looks like at home. 

Corey let me know the lines out the window were very short. Sigh - wish we were out there!

At 3:00 I called the pediatrics office and they told us that Daniel's covid test results were negative, so that is good and a surprise too. My sister Jersh here in Sandy has tested positive after her husband and some of her kids. My bro Neil in Layton has a son who tested positive too, neighbors are positive, it's kinda crazy lots of people have it. It's super hard to get test appointments, some people are waiting 4 hours. People are isolating and lots of the kids classmates are absent at school. Seems like a good time to just take a break and isolate up here (and go skiing!). After the kids got home from school, we did a virtual lesson for violin cause their teacher has covid. And lucky me, I had a swim night at Park City as my bribe with Lily and Abi to get them to practice right away, and they did so willingly. I had them do a few other things and we were on our way to Park City at 6:50. At school Abi got a robot baby that she has to take care of for 24 hours. The proud mother~

It made it hard for her to go swimming, cause no one could babysit her doll and help her out. She had to wear this bracelet for verification so the baby wouldn't turn off it's crying unless SHE was there helping it. It was kinda funny. Funny at first, but then she was annoyed. It's probably going to wake her up tonight for her to "feed" it. I let her know that real babies are so much better, and she knows that by experience too. We didn't keep the baby in it's carseat the whole time during the drive up, cause it started crying and needed her to change it's diaper. She changed it in the front passenger seat! That's not safe for taking care of babies! So there are a few glitches to the monitoring/programming in the doll that would allow that at 70 mph. Soon we were up and swimming at Park City - the kids had fun in the cold pool.

It's too cold for me but they loved it and practically had the pool to themselves. 

The smart people were in the hot tubs. 

So after swimming was done, we read scriptures then helped kids get ready to head home. Corey took them home and I am staying up here with Daniel and Peter! I've still got my alarms set and I'll be calling them to wake them up. Wes is going to take Lily to jazz band and Corey will take carpool for me and get the rest of the kids off to school. Abi fixing her baby's diaper before they drive home. 

Her siblings were interested in the baby and seemed to think it was a fun game. We'll probably go back to SL tomorrow around 3 to help out as kids get back home from school. I'm going to get these two little boys to bed now, ciao.

Thanksgiving Day

I came down from Park City early this morning with Wes. We were both up at 5:45 and getting things ready. I went to get the car from the far overflow parking garage with two car keys, then I came to get Wes - he met me in the lobby and took the van key back for Corey and grabbed Peter. I needed the van key to get his carseat. We left at 6:20 am, right on time! Wes got to the CHRC at 7am for the 5K turkey trot. The 5K was at 9, so he got paid to play Apples to Apples for 90 minutes, then they went out to their post "To point the way to take, that the signs were already showing..." You know, just for back up. He said it was cold and his toes were freezing and he's not going to sign up for that next year, even though he got paid overtime for working on a holiday. I picked Wes up around 10:30. The low winter sun was shining in Peter's face. Wes gave him a hat - we must protect Prince Peter from the sun!!

I got some sweet potato dish ready and a Mediterranean salad. Corey and kids on their way down at 2

Corey and J were talking about girls and dating (J is getting kinda serious with his girlfriend). Kids waited in the car and I sent my food out. Joseph played a little bit with Peter as he and Corey talked - but his kid skills are a little rusty and as he played with P in the air doing some swing dancing moves, he accidentally kinda dropped him on his head. 

It was not a total free fall drop, but enough to get a bonk and make him cry. 

Will Peter be able to trust Joseph again?

Ok, lets go. We headed out and arrived for dinner a little after 3 at our old chapel. It is the ward house where MEH were all blessed as babies. Jared and Amy had been working hard to prepare this feast for all of us!

A big banquet table all set up

Enjoying a meal -

Video of the feast - 

It was delicious. The turkey tasted AMAZING and was my favorite part of the meal.

Jared apparently marinated it for like 3 days or something. Wow.

It was delicious. Mel, Ethan, and Hyrum all coordinated when to call, so yay - we were able to talk to them, and they were able to talk to each other, yay!

After the meal, we played a few games of lightening (bball), some table games, and had a nerf gun war. We kept passing around the phone to anyone who wanted to say hi to our missionaries. Owen and Joseph playing Klask - Owen was sooo excited when he scored on Joseph, twice!

Then everyone played hockey and it was super fun. 

It got pretty competitive 

Abi was going head to head with Joseph and fell and got a hole in her ONLY pair of comgy sweat pants and she was sad.

The little girls were as patient as they could be for the game to finish, so that they could do a stage play for us. And the curtains got a lot of use opening and closing for each act, which were each about 2 mintues long.

We had no idea what it was about, but we gave an enthusiastic applause

So the party went a lot longer than planned, and then we cleaned up and we got to take some leftovers home, yay, and Corey headed straight back up to Park City, I went by home first to put back food. Peter fell asleep as soon as we were in the car. He slept through the transfer into the bedroom. Kids went swimming. P went to bed, and now I am going to go join him. It was a fun day, goodnight.