Hibberts in the Gym

Hello - a silly picture of Katharine to start of this post - doing a normal smile - 

And then trying out her best fake "force it" smile, ha!

That's a pretty good cheesy grin, Katharine! You take after Lily.

My sister Camilla and her significant other Steve, arrived safely last night. I fell asleep before they got here, but I met them this morning after I got back from climbing. Corey was visiting with them over breakfast and I joined in. I actually said hello and gave Camilla a hug before I left to take carpool. She was up, as her body is on Indiana time. It's great to see her, and Steve is very nice. Daniel performed his Lady Liberty song for Steve, and a few others. Another thing that was funny was when Steve met Wes, they shook hands, "Hi, I'm Steve." "Hi, I'm Wes." "Nice to meet you. I'm the adult man that will be using your shower..." that made Wes laugh, and was funny enough to impress a teenager. He came to me after and said "I like Steve, he's cool." They left around 11 to go to Provo, and I stayed home and was in a good cleaning mood and did a really good job, covered a lot of ground - even vacuumed my bedroom! It's always a little more enjoyable to clean when you know that it will last longer than 30 minutes! This is going to last 10 days, since we are leaving tomorrow, yay. I cleaned today - tomorrow we pack, and leave hopefully around 1. 

Camilla and Steve went to visit my parents at 11 and then headed to Provo to go to the Provo City Center Temple. I've never been to that one. Then they walked around BYU a bit, went and got Graigry, then met us at the church, which I had reserved from 5-9 tonight. So that was a fun get together. Bad news - both of Neil's dodge balls had holes, so no gaga ball today. We had a lot of fun playing chair soccer though.

Sophi had two friends come join us and we all had fun. One time I got Neil out, and then he was throwing the ball to try and hit my chair to get me out, but nailed me in the face. So if I have a half purple bruised head in our photos at DC, that's what it's from. Owen tripped once and hit his head hard on the floor. He immediately tried to put on a smile and a brave face but we could tell it hurt and he was fighting back the tears through his smile and Abi and Lily scooped him up with love and hugs. Owen is such a sweet kid. He was so good and patient at sitting when he got out, but I felt bad cause the girl that got him out, one of Sophi's friends, wasn't a hot target to get, so no one got her out for a lot time until I asked Neil to do it. Then Owen was back in. He wants me to tell you that he even got Abi and Lily out! My dad held Katharine and kept her safe from the ball while we played, although she and Peter had a few close calls. We signed up Owen and Daniel both to play spring soccer, and they are really excited!

I didn't think of getting a group pic until after my parents had already left and we were heading out - so it's a hallway shot - 

aaaand selfie mode with me, Lily, Lucy, and Graigry behind us. We love having fun with the Hibberts!

As You Are Family Pics

Joseph and Hyrum are leaving tomorrow for Philadelphia, so it's time for a group picture. It was a "come as you are" family photo session, and that means t-shirts was the attire for most of the kids, with jackets and sweatshirts on the teenagers, shin-guards on the toddler, and pajamas on the baby. I might put in the work for formal family picture before Hyrum leaves for his mission in the fall, but for now it was just this quick no-prep at all setting. We did some individual shots, then a group picture, and a few more individuals. 

Corey got all the kids to look at the camera by pretending to hit me on the head with a stick. This also made them smile too hard, but that's ok. I should have had Lily and Sophi be on opposite ends to balance the photo more. Daniel didn't want to be by Wes so we had to swap Abi and Wes, but then Peter looked to small on the front, but P didn't want Abi to hold him... oh the issues!

But again, this was just to get it done before J and H left, kinda like our family picture in Costa Rica before Corey left - it captures us in our raw and natural state. It was important to do while I had these 10 kids all at home for 24 more hours, and to mark this "comings and goings" moment.

I didn't get individual shots of Joseph and Hyrum. Joseph told me to use his pictures that he got taken by a friend recently down at BYU - 

...and Hyrum said he didn't want an individual picture because he already was going to have to have that for his mission photo. He doesn't love photos, mostly cause he thinks he can't smile, and he usually can't when he is trying.... I tell him to just be natural, but when the camera comes out, he doesn't remember how to be natural. After a dozen or so pictures, he settled on this one to submit with his papers. 

So Hyrum's mission papers and done and ready to turn in! Now he just has his interview with our Stake President, and they can do that over zoom, so Hyrum will get that done out in Philly. Pretty exciting! We've got another one ready and willing to go serve in the Lord's vineyard.

Here are the pics of the rest of the kids, from oldest to youngest. Wesley, nice young man - 

Abigail, a lovely young lady - 

Lilian - still petite enough to sport her 3rd grade School House Rock t-shirt from years ago.

Sophia - 

Natalie - 

Owen doesn't really know how to smile naturally either.

Daniel's cheesy grin -

And the hands down winner of the "I am photogenic and know how to smile naturally" winner is the amazingly perfect PETER WRIDE!

Making his eyes slightly more squinty and adorable

Oh Peter, how do you do it?!?! Can you teach your brothers? Hyrum, Owen, and Daniel would all like a lesson. The three brothers. Daniel's messy hair from sleeping with it wet after swimming last night. Yes, I took him to church like that. 

And Yes, Peter wore his pajamas to church under his Sunday pants and has been wearing them all day! This is our natural state! Aren't you just so impressed with us and "how I do it"? Ha! A few more shots of today - 

Owen wearing the Mandalorian paper mache helmet that Wes made, with Peter following him around the house - 

Look, it's the Mandalorian and cute Baby Yoda!!!

Joseph drove his motorcycle up yesterday. We'll be storing that while Joseph is gone. 

Joseph offered to give his siblings a ride on it today, and he spent a while out there giving them each a turn, and then they each wanted another turn. Corey has Joseph's permission to use it while he is gone. And Corey had promised a ride on it every day to each kid who practices. We'll see if that works. Owen was following Joseph's example by giving Peter a ride on his own little bike. Peter didn't really appreciate it.

Abi's turn, and kids waiting for their turn.

Sitting around after family scriptures and prayer, talking about what we will miss about Hyrum.

We'll miss you two Joseph, but you already left before, so we've already done this with you. 

Tomorrow is the beginning of another new chapter for them and our family, good luck boys!

Election Day

Hello November 3rd! It's election day. Good luck America! Let's see what we all decide to do. Corey and I voted a while ago. As we were pondering our situation, I told him he couldn't vote for Biden and he told me I couldn't vote for Trump, and it's all a mess so yeah, good luck America and I'm sending prayers all around. I put my heart into Romney years ago and I still think we're collectively idiots for not voting for him, so we're just getting what we deserve. I also realized, more after Romney's loss to Obama, that I should not have put my confidence in the government anyway. What happens in my home is more important than what happens in Washington, plus I don't have control over Washington, so I'm putting my focus in my home and neighborhood, and that's it. Corey did go over to his parent's house to have an "election party" with his brother and his boys, who recently joined in a Trump parade.

And as for home and our life here, it's all good. I've got my baby chicks at home - 

They are watching Disney's Cars (Peter likes cars, and he gets 100% of the vote, so we watch Cars a lot) I liked seeing Daniel snuggling up to him, ha

And this afternoon, Lily was reading to Peter on her bed and he fell asleep. I love it when that happens, it is nice having extra hands to give him attention.

Here are a few cute drawings that Daniel did - 

I liked these for the cheesy mischievous grins that his little characters have. 

All these guys "have pokies" on their fingers to poke. 

My fully grown children are out learning what they need to learn. Hyrum and I talked with Ethan for a bit, it is fun. It sounds like he's struggling a bit. 

I told him it's ok to not write a big entertaining weekly email. If he doesn't feel like writing or making things all rosy, it's ok (and that is what he decided to write today). As long as he is writing in his personal journal, that is what's important. 

Hotel Tag

Hyrum and Wes threw up yesterday, today it was Abi's turn. I'm glad when it's an older kid that is sick, cause they suffer it well. I'm really hoping this bug doesn't spread to the little kids. Abi ate breakfast and then was hunched over most of the morning holding her tummy. She finally threw up after lunch and then she felt better. Abi, Seth, and Issac played Skip Bo with me today. We increased the intensity by starting to play killer Skip Bo (similar to Killer Uno)

Daniel asking to go swimming with Alix, wearing a little frankenstein mask. We've had to wear masks at the hotel this week, when we're walking room to room or going out to the pool.

So everyone went swimming today, of course. The kids have been doing crafts with Corey's mom every morning, making bracelets and stuff. Natalie and Peter were well entertained today with some crafts that we brought up that a neighbor gave us last week. A bin of buttons and beads and string and sequin.

The made a sparkly mess all over the floor but everyone helped clean it up tonight before bed.

This afternoon, I attempted to go biking with Wes, Corey told me to go buy a lift pass for him and I, but we barely were able to get the bikes off of the garage wall and I didn't find a bike that I liked or that felt good to ride and I couldn't get the seat feeling right and I began to be reluctant to keep trying. Then Nancy and Jordyn came down to the garage and they were going for a ride out in Deer Valley and they had room for one more, so I told Wes to go with them. I don't have it in me to learn this yet. I'll leave the biking to Corey. Later tonight Wes wanted to go ride again, so Corey took him out with Joseph at night, and Corey came back to the room tired and excited. "I have found my new favorite sport! That was really fun. It's like pod racing through the trees!" Well fun! Maybe I will try, but I need Corey to go with me so I can follow his lead and not be the leader.

The highlight for me today was playing Hotel Tag before dinner. I didn't get any pictures of this, cause I was playing with them (and pushing Peter in the stroller) but it was really fun. This is a game I invented a few years ago up here in Park City. Today we played in pairs. The teams were: Joseph and Natalie, Wes and Sophi, Mel and Daniel, Me and Peter, Seth and Owen, and I can't remember which cousins were with who, but it was an epic game. The game of Hotel Tag goes like this: Walk quietly around the floors of the hotel, and try to not get tagged by whoever is it. I was not very fast since I was pushing Peter. Also, pushing Peter in the stroller limited my option of going up and down stairs. so I was stuck in the halls and elevators. But Peter was being pretty quiet, so that helped. It felt like I was it forever. I did chase a group of kids down the hall. I was walking toward them, they were slowly walking toward me. Wes, Lily, and Sophi were in the group. They asked "Are you it?" I paused for a second and kept walking "Yes..." and then they fled, and I tried to quietly run after them as I pushed Peter and they were all screaming and laughing. I made it to the stairs and I almost got them and would have if I had been able to chase them up the stairs for a second, but as soon as I let go of the stroller and went for the door, Peter started to cry so I went back. I finally tagged someone else when I took the elevator up to the 9th floor. I was waiting in a hallway right by the elevator. I heard it open. I heard Wes say to Sophi "This is the 9th floor..." and I heard them getting closer so I jumped out of my hiding spot and Wes was like "Oh shoot!" and ran, but Sophi just screamed in terror, so I grabbed her and covered her mouth like I was going to kill her, it was so funny. "Sophi! You can't scream like that! We want to keep playing hotel tag, we can't get caught, so shhh!! No screaming!" So I let them go and they were it and we kept roaming the halls. Joseph called me and we decided to play it Zombie style, where once you get tagged, your are it but the person that tagged you is still it too, so soon everyone is it. We played that for a while and had a hard time finding Mel and Daniel. But it was really fun. I didn't join the hotel tag game after dinner cause I was cleaning and putting these munchkins "to bed" - ha, not really. They were jumping and wrestling on the bed.

Mel joined them.

Tickle tickle

And Peter saying cheese for the camera again. He's getting a good cheesy grin. 

Saying Sorry

Abi and I worked hard last week to get her caught up with her math. At the Parent Teacher Conferences, the teacher said they were on chapter 9, but Abi needed to hurry and do 8 if she was going to understand things. And probably chapter 7 too. So... we worked hard for a few hours over several days and we did chapter 7, 8, and 9! Yay, we're caught up! And then she comes home last Wednesday and says they had a math test and she didn't know about it (so I'm assuming that means she probably didn't do great on it...) and I'm frustrated that she doesn't know when the test are coming up. We do a little bit of chapter 10, and I ask her about her math homework and she doesn't know what the homework is either! How are you going to get a decent grade in here if you're not even paying attention in class to know when the tests are, what the assignments ever are, or what is expected?! So I'm frustrated and shaking my head at Abi, and the house is a mess so I'm also frustrated with all the kids in general, and I go to my room to use the bathroom and find Sophia and Daniel in there, using my phone watching youtube. And she needed to practice and do homework and I kinda gave her a death glare and fumed and vented my irritation and disappointment as I took my phone away. She knows I've said many times she is not allowed to take my phone. Some of our kids talk back when we chastise them, but Sophi tends to shrivel under the scorn of correction. I walked away. Later, as I was here at the computer, Sophi brought me a mug she got for Christmas from her teacher, with a note:

I didn't look at it when she gave it, she just set it on my desk and walked away. I looked at it the next day (so this was Thursday last week Feb 27th) and I rightfully feel very sorry. I wrote a note in return and put it with the mug back on her shelf, saying she didn't need to give me her mug, I knew how special it was to her, and that I would work on being more patient and that she is a good girl and a wonderful daughter. She didn't see my note right away either, and saw it yesterday, and then last night gave me this note which made me smile.

"Thanks BFF, with out you I thik I will not even igsis! I will not mene and take your stufe. I know you and I mack a complete family, well I no you do." So that was a sweet note by Sophi. She really is a sensitive little girl. I was feeling frazzled tonight again too, though. Just the usual stress caused by shoes, coats, and backpacks all over the entryway, amplified by O and D being noisy and teasing and broken spaghetti noodles spilled in the kitchen, cause the package was left out by H and found by the little boys. I'm not showing up in my life as a homemaker right now. I need to kick things in gear. I did a little sos polo to my sisters and sisters in law asking for advice. I don't get a good night sleep because of nursing Peter, should I wean him? Am I ready to not have nursing baby? Kinda, I guess. I might need to let this babyhood phase end. I can't nurse him forever, and I can't make him stop growing up. Here are a few pictures of Peter from last Friday.

He was working on his cheesy grin!

I haven't seen him do a cheesy grin before, but it was cute.

Peter, you remind me of little cheesy Lily! Cute little boy

He's cute and I love nursing, but yeah, I'm getting old and need to start getting decent old person sleep. I don't think I've slept through the night in over a year! So understandably I am tired during the day and am not doing work, not that I should be the unpaid help around here, but I'm not following up on the kids, making them help clean up the house. And I don't do a good job making dinner either so yeah, I feel like I'm failing on most levels right now. Everyone is fending for themselves, including me. Poor Corey comes home after a full day of work and does the dishes, sigh. I feel like it's just a mess right now. And I really will try to not let my frustration with the state of the house turn me into a grumpy mom. I should probably read Through His Eyes again and work on being aware the thoughts that are in my Belief Box so that I can keep my emotions in check.

Skiing at Brighton

Here are some pictures of the kids skiing with Corey yesterday at Brighton. Getting their lift tickets -

Lily's still got a good cheesy grin -

Taking a break from the cold to come in for lunch - 

Well, coming in from the cold to buy it, then back out into the cold to eat it...

They had a good day, Corey said it was great. 

 So Mel, Wesley, Abi, Sophi went skiing, I'm guessing Ethan and Natalie spent the day at the cabin. 

Joseph, of course, is in Guatemala, but we still have to count him off to make sure we're not missing anyone... Hyrum didn't come up at all yesterday, he stayed home to finish homework he put off over the break. So he's here with me, as well as Owen and Daniel, so yeah, that's everyone.

Happy New Year!