Hey Ethan! Lucky boy, your mother finally sent you a birthday package! It was on my to-do before I gave myself permission to leave for Moab this weekend.
Daniel helped me run my errand to finish getting treats for inside, and a few items for Moab. It wasn't much of a package, and we transferred a bit of $ into his bank account too, cause he bought a new scripture set last month and I said I'd have that be my main present to him. So, Happy Birthday Elder Wride! We are proud of you! And we'll try to be better at writing emails and snail mail letters.
One other thing for today - in preparation for General Conference this weekend, I've been reviewing the October General Conference messages, and the one by Elder Lund just breaks my heart every time. It is titled "Finding Joy in Christ". When he talks about his son Tanner Christian, especially what Tanner said about people looking at him when he had cancer....
Go listen to it. I was not expecting what Tanner said. The first time we heard it, I had my own narrative going in my mind as to what Tanner was thinking and what he was about to say, so I was so surprised and immediately the tears started to flow. Wow. Go listen to it.
Or... here is the spoiler...
"I think it helps people." He was sacrificing himself, putting himself there at church to pass the sacrament, even with how painful it was for him, he did it, because he could tell by the way that people looked at him, that it helped them. What a selfless boy. What a treasure of a person, seemingly gone too soon from all of us to benefit from his wise spirit, but maybe we have benefited by the little legacy he left, which was captured and shared in this conference message. I'm grateful I was able to hear it. It makes me tear up each time I've relistened to it. I just love General Conference. I'm so looking forward to this weekend!
So we are going down to Moab in a bit, time to go finish packing. Should be fun. Corey got a new tent and new sleeping bags and new air mattresses for everyone. I honestly have been murmuring a little bit about this though, just cause it's hard with little kids. Sure, we're going to go "biking" but I'm sure I'm going to be stuck watching little kids while Corey goes, which is fine. But if I'm stuck watching little kids, I'd rather be at home. I've been in a bit of a fun, maybe I've been trying to store up the mental energy to get me through this weekend. So here we go - we wanted to leave before it got dark so that we wouldn't have to drive in the dark (I hate driving in the dark on un-lit roads) but we're not ready yet and Corey's been working later than planned, but that's ok. Alright, going to go finish up.
Daniel is pretty good at riding Peter's little bike. He road it to and home from the bus stop when we took Owen.
Daniel is a good little rider and can balance perfectly well. I don't think he'll be able to get far on that bike on Slickrock... we probably aren't taking that one, maybe we are, I'm not sure what the plan is, and we need to pack. Corey got a new tent last weekend, so should be fun. Yippie, we're all going camping together! Yay? Corey's become all Mr. Outdoors-y! This will be the first time he and I have camped together. He's taken the kids by himself (another time alone) and I've taken kids alone (sometimes a little resentfully...), but we've never done it together! So we'll see how this goes, might be fun to have both mom and dad there? We've been married 22 years and we got another "first"!
Sophi left letters for everyone on their beds yesterday. TODAY, we learned that she had mass produced these personal letters when we saw one of the unwritten-on notes - with an unfinished drawing of a person that can be custom made to match the addressee:
Here are her letters to Ethan and Melodie - hilarious!
I'm going to include a copy of her mass produced blank copy for each of them, I think they'll get a real kick out of it! And here's a drawing Owen did of the Mandalorian and Baby Yoda, I love it. These kids make me laugh.
Here are a few sweet pictures of Peter drawing with the magnet sketch tonight.
I loved watching him draw, he is soooo sweet!
LOOK AT HIS ADORABLE LITTLE HAND!!!
That cute little fist! He didn't draw anything amazing, but HE is amazing.
He was working so intently, I loved it, my heart was full of happiness.
I loved watching him at a park this afternoon too. This week is spring break for the older kids, and our violin teacher lives in that school district, so we didn't have violin lessons today. That meant that I was available to take Lily to soccer practice. The little boys played at the park while we waited for her. He likes riding the little rocking horse -
MY cute Peter! Sweet Natalie helping him rock on the dino seat, which didn't rock very well.
They are great kids and it's a delight to be their mother. Joseph was up from BYU tonight. He volunteers as a Spanish interpreter at some medical clinic so he comes up now and then, which is always a joy. Today was a fun day to have him here because today marks Joseph's one year mark - one year since he came home from his mission to Guatemala!
It's crazy to think about all that has happened this past year! It has been a year full of stretching opportunities and a year full of blessings.
We had soccer games this morning. Lily's team tied 4-4. Corey took Sophi to her game, Abi had a bye. It was sunny but still very cold. It would have been a beautiful day to ski! Sigh. After the soccer games, Corey wanted to take the kids on a bike ride. Hyrum stayed home with Daniel, and I went along for the ride. There was a bike for me, but I ended up not riding down the hill. Peter and I stayed behind so that Owen could go on the shotgun seat, cause the trail they were doing looked a little advanced for this new biker. He can ride, but I'm not sure he's ready for trails. Kids all ready to go -
Trying to get them to all come and hold still for a second so I can take a picture...
Peter knows how to cooperate, come on you older kids! There we go...
We went up a small trail to the side of Potato Hill in Draper, and wow! What a view!
So they took off down Red potato trail, and Peter and I went for a little hike up the hill.
My sweet little Peter!
We walked up to the top. The loose rocks made it tricky for Peter. Then we walked down the trail they rode down and we could see them in the trees. I yelled down to them "HI COREY! HI ABI!!!" I could tell her by her blue jacket. Peter imitated me and said "Hi Abi!" That made me smile, he's so cute. Then I hacked to clear my throat, and he imitated me there too, doing a little throat noise, which made me laugh and then he imitated me by doing a little toddler chuckle. So funny! Peter and I drove down to the Coyote Trailhead, where there were lots of signs that said "Do Not Use Muddy Trails! Do not use if it sticks to your heels or your wheels, violators will be prosecuted." Doh! But we did not notice any signs like that up at the top of Potato Hill, so hopefully we won't be in trouble with the law! Peter's favorite part of our little walk at the Coyote Trail was when we stood on rocks.
This game is called "Stand Up!" Here's a little video of him playing the game -
I was watching Corey's location on Life 360 the whole time. Peter and I went to the parking lot at Corner Canyon to wait for them to arrive. Peter had fun playing on a dirt hill.
Corey and I had been exchanging a few voice messages, and I guess the mud made it a horrible experience and there was weeping and wailing, Sophi screaming "WHY!?!?!" as she cursed her father for taking her on this horrific ride. Corey said they were probably going to have to do one more ride to make it a good memory instead of a bad one. So we loaded up the bikes and then took them all to the top of the Carolina Hills Trailhead. The just had to coast down, easy and fun, right?
Plus Corey told them that they had to do it in order to get food at Shake Shack afterwards. (He ordered burgers for everyone at Shake Shack but he accidentally got firey ones with hot peppers on them, oops.) Owen rode his bike on that one and Peter rode on the ShotGun seat.
I met them at the bottom again. So we left home at 1, drove over Suncrest to at trail that was closed, and then the ride from Potato Hill started at 2pm. We were all getting back in the car at 4:25. So we're still beginner bikers, but are learning by experience.
It was a good trial run before Moab next week. I trust there will not be mud in Moab! Good job to Corey for making it still be a fun and good memory.
It was the annual neighborhood Easter Egg Hunt today. We just had to take over 12 eggs by 11:00 for each kid that was going to participate. We donated our eggs last night. Today at 1 they were ready to go!
All the kids were lined up into age groups and told which yard they were to search. Everyone searched for 12 eggs, then came back to the culdesac, and after everyone was back with their 12, then it was a free for all for any remaining eggs. Peter was super cute. Abi really wanted to take him over, but he didn't want to go. I let him finish his lunch and then I took him over. He wasn't interested in the eggs though. He would walk right over them or away from them. "Peter! Look, an egg! Do you want the egg?" "No egg..." was his reply.
Even after Abi showed him that there was candy inside he still didn't care. "Wow, candy. No egg..."
Abi picked up eggs for him anyway. Since we had just been trying to get Peter to play along the whole time, I didn't get any pictures of Sophi, Owen or Daniel, but we saw Natalie and I got her to pose for me.
She just got an egg out of her bag and put it on the sidewalk, then I said "Go do it by the bush, that's more realistic... Now look at me!" Finally when almost all the kids were done with their dozen eggs, Peter finally picked up one and put it in the bag. Yay!
Peter saw me with my phone taking a picture of him, and he paused and said "CHEESE!!!"
He is stinking adorable.
Sophi invited two friends from another neighborhood to join us, there were plenty of eggs to go around.
It's a fun neighborhood tradition! Today was also a little more adjusting to our new soccer schedule that I'm not looking forward to, but I plan to submit cheerfully to it (Mosiah 24:15). Sophi and Lily both had practice at the same time, but at different parks, so I took Sophi to Corey at work and he took Sophi, while I took Lily. I also has NODP with me. P fell asleep, NOD went to go have fun on the playground while we waited. I thought Lily's practice was only 60 minutes. It was super old and raining, and they ran back to the van. Owen stayed out for a while. When he came back, he smelled like a wet dog and was sopping wet. But on the plus side, that made the humidity in the car high enough that Natalie and Daniel were able to draw on the windows!
That was about when I learned that Lily's practice was actually 90 minutes. It stopped raining, NOD got out of the car to play, then they'd come back in, there was a bit of back and forth. The cold open doors and loud kids woke Peter up from his nap. He stayed in the car the whole time and I read as they watched Peter Pan.
If I had know the practice was 90 minutes, we might have done things differently. Hopefully next time it will not be so cold outside and it will just be a fun time at the park. When Lily was finished and it was time to go home, the sun was shining. It was still not warm, but it was sunny with blue skies to the south. I hurried home, got Abi, who had practice at 6 and we all turned right around and zipped back to where we just were with Lily - they both had practice at the same place. Then back home again, got ready for a date, went to India House, and that was close to her practice so we were done in time to pick up Abi at practice shortly after 8. I was enjoying the slower pace of life that covid gave us, but I hope I can adjust well to the run around life that we are choosing for ourselves. I hope the kids have the opportunities they want to have, cause we are trying our best to give them every opportunity that we are physically able to do without going crazy or having major negative side effects.
Natalie loved her first day of taking a Ballet and Tap Combo class.
Here she is on her way - I picked her up at school and she changed in the car and we got there early so that we could buy her some ballet slippers. I was able to find tap shoes at Kid to Kid yesterday. Her class starts at 4.
After she got home, she stayed in her clothes and danced for all of us. Peter was quickly inspired.
She would do a twirl, and then Daniel would say "Wow! I try!" and then he'd do his own toddler interpretive dance moves. It was pretty darn cute. I'm glad he likes to try new things and that he has such a good teacher!
Here is my morning picture of Peter sleeping, so cute. I take too many pictures of him sleeping in the morning, but it's a fleeting time and he's my baby, so I just soak it up and am trying to capture and savor each day. I love those little crossed toes. He's my snuggly little teddy bear.
Yesterday morning on my drive home from carpool - the low hanging clouds looked cool. I'm heading back into the fog.
Yesterday we successfully applied for their passports. I was picking up Abi and Lily from school when I got a call from the lady who tried to help us on Monday, telling me that the cashier check we had used the day before would not work "so when you come in next time you'll need a separate check with each application..." Yeah, I know, I'm ready this time. Sorry, I was just being stupid, but good news is I was able to get appointment right away, so we're on our way and will be there in 15 minutes! We gave her a wave behind the glass, and were helped by a different lady on Tuesday.
We did it right that time. Good for us. So now Wes should be able to go to Guatemala in August.
Today I ran a few errands while Hyrum was home (he has two online classes in the morning) and I went and got some good soccer balls, cause Corey signed up the kids to play soccer. I went to Kid to Kid today (twice) and got a lot of soccer cleats and shin guards for all the girls plus Owen and Daniel, then I went to the DI and found two more pairs for Abi and I. The kids are excited and have been playing a lot in the back yard.
So Abi, Lily, and Sophi are set to go with soccer, and today I signed up Natalie to take ballet. I told the kids that they can each choose one more activity to do, and we'll see how it goes. I texted a few of Natalie's friends to see where they take dance, and decided to go to Utah Dance Center. She starts tomorrow and she'll be able to join in a Cinderella recital in June, so that's fun.
Corey making Wes laugh tonight before scriptures. It was a good day, I'm trying to steel myself to be run-around crazy busy again, but the soccer games should be close and just on Saturdays, we're not going to worry that much about practices. Natalie's ballet is close so that is good. There are less kids at home and we're still not doing the Soundhouse yet, so it won't be as busy as it was before with us driving down there several times a week, but still busier than it's been this past year of covid. We'll see how it goes. If it's too nuts, we'll drop some things out.
We had an appointment this morning to get passports. I had scheduled appointments to get them for everyone who has an expired passport, plus Peter, who has not received one yet. We decided last night to not get passports right now for SN, and OD's passports are current, expire next year, so they're good for a bit. So SN and P will still need one sometime if we decide to go anywhere. The appointment was at 9:30. We were scrambling because I waited until THIS morning to fill out the online application, and print them, but first I had to take carpool, then hurried home and started to fill them out, but our printer isn't working, so I had all the tabs open on my computer of the pdf's ready to print, and gave it to Corey and he stopped by his parents' house to print them while I got ODP ready and in the car then went to pick up WAL from school. So I don't know what I was thinking, but I forgot the check book to pay the federal charges. I remembered that on the way, so Corey went by a bank to get a cashier's check. And when Corey arrived with the printed applications and check, it was then that I realized I also did not bring their birth certificates. So stupid. Like it really didn't even cross my mind to bring those. I guess I thought I was good with the expired passports? I have no excuse. We have gotten passports before, so I should have known better. I'm going to use the "my brain was frazzled 'cause I was focused on getting 6 kids there on time" excuse. But it's really more because of lack of planning. She said they were booked out in mid-April, but I was able to get an appointment tomorrow at 9:45, so we'll be doing all that again within 24 hours, but I shall be better prepared. I already have all the things I shall need ready on the corner of our dresser. It will also be less stressful because I will not have the little kids in tow, cause it's the end of the term so Hyrum will be home to watch them. Yay.
Monday also is violin day. I pick up Sophi and Natalie from school at 3:30 and we head to Holladay for lessons. I practiced a little bit this afternoon but I ended up not trying to pass of Gavotte today. Partially because I opted to ski on Saturday instead of practice, so I still didn't feel I was quite ready, and also because I had all the little kids in tow (SN and OD&P), so they were a little needy so I decided to just play with them instead of having a lesson. Usually I leave them home with one of the older kids, but today Lily had soccer, Hyrum had work, Abi was at a friends house, and W had a lot of homework. Corey came home from work at 4 so he could take Lily to her 4:30 soccer practice - she has that every Monday at 4:30 for the next 9 weeks. We're trying the soccer thing again, this time for Abi, Lily, and Sophi, and Natalie is starting Ballet. I told them that if they slack off with music though, we might not do it in the fall. This is an experiment of family time and schedule management. But music is more important to me long term. I wonder if the pro-soccer teenager that I was would be disappointed to see me now. So Abi stayed after school today to go to a friends house, now wants a longboard.
This pic above was her favorite picture that they took -
And a few more -
Trying to get that Instagram worthy shot...
At home after violin, Owen was out riding his bike - he does pretty good!
We took a quick ride around the block together, it was too cold for me after that lap. Owen's bike is a little small and he doesn't know how to change the gear, so he was pedaling so fast to get up the small slope of the street, it was cute. As I made dinner, Abi and I were talking and she mentioned a neighbor names Jules, who goes by the nickname "Juju" and after Abi said Juju, Peter who was sitting at the counter with us, started singing "Baby shark ju ju ju ju ju baby shark ju ju ju ju ju..." and he was singing for like 20 minutes.
It was so cute and funny.
I sent it to my family in a polo too -
Peter brings us so much joy, we love him. Such a cutie.
Peter also recorded a nice song for Ethan's Happy Birthday. Yes, today we wish a happy birthday to Elder Wride!! Ethan is 19!!! How crazy is that?!? They are having transfers this week, so we didn't hear from him today cause his P-day (preparation day) is going to be tomorrow. So tomorrow we'll wish him happy birthday virtually and maybe see if he's being transferred. For your entertainment, here is our little singing star Peter singing Happy Birthday to you, Ethan!
One more picture from last night. I listened to a fireside at our stake with Tad Callister speaking, it was great (The Book of Mormon is true!) and after that I stayed at the computer blogging and stuff (I got 4 posts for February done, yay, I'm always catching up though...) and Corey and the kids started watching some black mamba video of some guy named Dingo Dinkelman and they were laughing and though it was hilarious and scary and that Dingo says really funny things. I enjoyed listening to them laugh.
Go listen to it. I was not expecting what Tanner said. The first time we heard it, I had my own narrative going in my mind as to what Tanner was thinking and what he was about to say, so I was so surprised and immediately the tears started to flow. Wow. Go listen to it. 
