Jones' Reception

Camilla and Steve had a dance party reception with friends and family tonight. We all helped put it together and I think it went well. 

Big shout out to Camilla's oldest Xela and her husband Trevor who did a ton of work. Actually a lot of us did a lot of work, and it was worth it. We were glad to be here to celebrate with them! The hardest thing for me was missing Katharine, and I'm heading home tomorrow, so I've almost survived that hard part. Mel sent me these pics today of Katharine yesterday, when Katharine first woke up and I wasn't there....

She looks a little confused! 

I'm imagining her thinking and saying to herself "Where is that one lady... Seems like there was a lady who used to be here... Um, am I just imagining that that happened? Where am I? Who am I? What is my life about?"

It was not a dream Katharine. You do have a mother and it's me! I promise I'm coming back! I hope she still nurses when I get there. I'm not ready to give it up yet, I hope she doesn't reject me. It's good to know that she is in good hands. 

Good hands and loving arms! Thank you Mel and Natalie! (and of course you too Corey!)

Mel took that pic too. So I miss the kids and Katharine's little face. But I'll try to not think of that (except when I'm pumping and hoping milk will flow) This morning here in Indy, we visited for a bit.

Then we headed to the chapel that is next to the temple so we could help Camilla's kids set up decorations for the reception. Trying to untangle ivy...

BeReal - my siblings are all wearing red! Where's my red. I need a red shirt.

We worked for several hours, did a good job, then headed back to the Airbnb (30 min drive) so we could change and leave at 5:30 to get ready for our big performance!

In what has become somewhat of a Hibbert wedding tradition, we did a little parody number. This time there were two songs - Daydream Believer and Country Roads with lyrics changed up a bit. 

I don't have all the lyrics right now, but I remember the choruses. For Daydream Believer the chorus was as follows:

She's our Camilla Jane

And we'll always claim, she's a

Hibbert forever tho' now

Jones is her name...

And for Country roads the final chorus was:

Camilla Jones and Steve Jones

In the place, they belooooong!

Indiana, Cardinal Mama

Welcome Home, to the Jones!

I think Neil and Grant did most of the lyrics, with other contributions by my mom, Stephanie, Aurora, and the rest of us gave our 2cents too. The reception was fun. Clean up went faster than the set up, yay, and Camilla and Steve left just in time before a total downpour, and the rain mostly stopped when the rest of us were leaving. Now we've been staying up and talking a bit. It's too late for me though (especially for Utah time!) 

Looking forward to heading home in the morning. I'll go to the airport with Neil and my parents. Their flights leave later than mine but we're close enough - they'll prob drop me off and then go return the rental car and we'll just chill. We all have layovers anyway, so we've got books to read and things to kill the time with. We haven't had much downtime here to visit, but I need to head to bed so I'm going to be a party pooper and excuse myself in a minute. Good news is that all the Hibberts are getting together in July up at Bear Lake for 3 days of fun, so that will be great and we won't be so busy - it will just be hanging out at a vacation rental, and we'll all have our spouses and kids, so it will be a lot of fun. 

Camilla & Steve Sealing

Well, I made it to Indiana! At the Indianapolis temple! 

Photo bomb by my nephew Taden there, ha. The marriage sealing was the big event of this trip, and that was today at 6 PM. Congratulations Camilla!

My cute sister and her new husband and their kids after the sealing. 

They make a lovely blended family. Picture with the Hibbert parents and siblings. 

Aaannnd (something fun!)... Camilla became a new bride AND a grandma on the same day! (Steve's oldest has a cute little 5 month old baby girl.) So, yeah, good day. 

A few details of my trip here - I made it to Vegas last night at 9 pm. Uber was still saying it was $68 to get a ride to my hotel, so I took a risk and went to take a taxi. That ended up being just $28, so good job me. I had a nice driver from Ethiopia, I gave him a $10 tip. I was able to check in no prob, went to the room, pumped, went to bed, woke up at midnight feeling totally refreshed and it felt like it was 3 - when I saw it was just barely midnight I thought "Sweet! I have 3 more hours!" I went back to bed, woke up again on my own at 1. Back to bed again... then my alarm went off at 3:30 and I was out of it when that went off, but got up, pumped, gathered my stuff, met my Uber at 4 (it was scheduled for 4:10, I appreciated that he was early. Nice guy, good 15 min visit in the car. He has a youtube channel on fixing and flipping cars) Um, so I got to the airport no prob, not a long line getting through security, and with that done, the part of the trip that I was most anxious about was over. The 5:30 flight was slightly delayed, so my arrival was an hour later than planned. Patrice was going to get me, cause her father in law was getting home at the airport too, but since I was late, she left and my brothers picked me up! Highlight #2 - seeing Grant hanging out the window with both of his arms outstretched welcoming me to Indiana. Arriving at the Airbnb - 

Neil and Grant ready for the temple - Neil - 

Grant playing the guitar - 

They taught me the song they had been working on for us, that we are going to sing for Camilla tomorrow night at the reception. Then sealing at 6, then to the park for dinner, Grant, Matt and Neil took lots of pics and now we're back at the Airbnb. Biggest highlight of the day was the sealing, then seeing my brothers at the airport, and I also loved driving with my parents and siblings in the car - Neil driving, I was in the middle in the back, feet on the hump. My dad on my left, Patrice on my right, Mom in shotgun. Trice got an 80s playlist going and was blasting "Poor Some Sugar on Me" by Def Leppard and "Sweet Child of Mine" by Guns N' Roses. Good memories! Neil was jamming as he drove, making us laugh. He's a nice bishop now, but there's still a 6th grader listening to KBER inside of him. 

We also thought we were so funny when, as Patrice was taking a photo of the temple, Neil snuck out to take a pic of her taking a pic, and then I took a pic of Neil taking a picture of Patrice taking a picture.

Next time we'll get my dad to take a picture of me taking a picture of Neil taking a picture of Patrice taking a picture. See how funny we are? At the dinner after the sealing - we had a nice time visiting with Camilla's friends, esp Allison G and Michelle D.

I think the family is doing well at home. Mel had an FSY training thing, so she was actually gone today, Corey sent me this pic of K

He took her and the kids to Classic Fun Center. Katharine and Corey got 3rd place in a video car race.

Wes Abi and Lily are at FSY in Ephraim. Wes sang "Peaches" for a talent night thing today, one of the leaders sent me a low quality video recording of it, seems likes Wes enjoyed it and had fun. Going to go to bed now, I'm looking forward to knowing that I won't be woken up by a nursing baby. 

Off to Indy

I'm on my way to Indiana. I gave myself plenty of time here at the airport. I left home at 5:30, plane leaves at 8:35. Corey drove me in and walked me in up until security. 

I'm feeling a bit like a baby, but am also resigned to my situation. My biggest worry is Katharine not nursing after I get back home, but I shall press forward in faith. I ran an errand before I left - I returend library books and went to Costco to get Corey mango juice for his bike rides. I put some in the freezer for him - that was my little thoughtful surprise, good job me. My biggest stress is spending the night in Las Vegas - mostly because of the "get to the hotel and then get back to the airport" logistics that I will have to figure out soon. I'll be arriving in Vegas at 9:05, and my flight to Indiana leaves at 5:30 am, it's just a 10-15 min drive, so I am going planning on having an Uber pick me up at 4 I think? Let me see... Ok, I just did my first scheduled Uber. That one is scheduled for 4:10 am. Wake up at 3:30 to pump, get ready, go, arrive airport, don't need to check baggage, security, should be quick enough to get to the gate? I think?!?! Ahh... so, this is all slightly stressful.

Just looking through pics of today... you know how, in my last post, I was talking about organizing papers in the basement and feeling so proud of myself? Well, with the clean basement, I was not the only person inspired to get to work... Natalie got to work playing school...

Her classroom students - 

AND this is what she did with all my bins that I had started sorting and organizing. But there were 4 missing. I started to drill her - where are all the bins I had across the floor? And where are the papers that were in them? She said she just put the papers in other bins and then put them all on top of each other...

So that's how my sorting just got killed. I didn't go fix it today - no time. I told her to NOT move things around any more and I'd fix things after I get back on Saturday. We also found a little dead bird outside - it was not stiff - it was soft and must have just died - crashed into the window or something. It wasn't there when Corey and I went on our ride this morning. I brought it in for teacher Ms. Natalie to show her class for a nature lesson. 

And yeah, now I'm off and am going to post this and hopefully blog a little while I'm in Indiana and I'll be back on Saturday. Wishing myself good luck on catching my plane rides today and tomorrow. Will be boarding here in another 30 min. I'm going to do some lesson prep (I teach on Sunday about the resurrection! Such great stuff in the podcasts this week, I loved the guest on Follow Him! Part 1 and Part 2. (Also I remember loving Ross Baron's podcast from last year in Isaiah Part 1 and Part 2 conversion story was amazing - Part 1 at 4:25 Dr. Baron shares his background as a Jew and Latter-day Saint) Corey and I listen to so much each morning on our ride, and we share things with the kids during the week, but I wish I had more time to sit down and articulate thoughts... Agh but can't do it now, gotta go study Resurrection scriptures - I think I base a lot of my lesson on Teaching With Power's stuff for this week.) Ok, gonna try to be productive before I board the plane. 

Big Lego Helpers

Yesterday Melodie took Wes, Abi, and Lily to Ephraim for FSY (For the Strength of Youth). My "big helpers" were gone, but the little kids stepped up and proved that they are amazing helpers too! They wanted to play the Wii, and I said only after we got all the legos off of the floor in the basement. Daniel felt the task was too big, but I started, and I was working fast, with a big paper plate helping me scoop the legos from the carpet, and they started helping and tried to keep speed with me. We kept filling bins, and I didn't have to remind anyone to keep working - I was very pleased with all of them. It was so cute to see Daniel and Peter sitting under the table, raking their fingers across the shag carpet there to find any little studs and legos hands that they could. They all worked great! 

And they were excited to see us making progress. The biggest kick I got was from seeing Daniel go from and say "We're never going to be able to do that!" and then after an hour of work: "We're almost done!! I knew I was wrong!!!" Haha! Little kids ARE big helpers!

So that was great. It was 2:00 and I started to get the Wii out. They were all feeling so proud and lovey-dovey afterwards too, giving me hugs and being so kind to each other. I told Corey of their working success and then he said it would be good if we could delay the reward and to maybe not get the wii out yet. I had already promised them, and said they could still cash in their work time for Wii, but if they wanted to work more, they could earn more time. They were good with that and cleaned the kitchen. Good kids. So they played for 2 hours at 4:00, that was yesterday, and today they didn't earn video game time. That's ok - they got my productivity going and I organized papers in the basement today (sorting out a pile of papers for each kid from boxes that I threw together prob a year ago when I decided to clear off the basement desk - put it all in a box and then organize them one by one. I got through two today. Mel took Sophi and Natalie to violin today, that was nice of her to help me out. I've been enjoying time with Katharine before I leave her tomorrow. Mel's BeReal from today - 

Natalie has been teaching K how to use a bottle. I'm a bit sad about leaving K, but I do not want to travel with her by myself, so, I am leaving her. 

We'll all get though this. I leave for the airport tomorrow around 5:30 - giving myself lots of time for error. 

I'm going to try to have the house semi put together for Corey and Mel before I leave so that they can coast through 3 days without my help.

Wes is 18!

Happy EIGHTEENTH Birthday Wes! You made it! You are an adult!

Wes, you are a handsome young man. Daniel, you're a cutie too. The birthday treats for today were Crumble cookies from my mother. She added some of her own decorations: WES - 6/25/05 #5 and #4 (5th child, 4th boy) "great things are ahead!" I was lame and only gave Wes $50 bucks, which was my gift to Lily two days ago too. (Not the same $50 bill - haha, I didn't give him Lily's, although that's an idea.) It wasn't a regular Sunday - it was a bit busier than most. Corey and Wes had a priesthood meeting at 2:15, then they all went to visit Corey's mother, then they came back for a Tabernacle training fireside for all the youth at 6. The Tabernacle is coming to Draper, and our stake is among the stakes helping out, so the kids are doing that on July 7th! Cool! Sophi gave a talk at church today. I took this screen shot as I listened from the mother's room as I nursed K

We also had a wonderful speaker - Shannon Cloward's mom! It was so great to hear from her! And today was Shannon's birthday too! I had forgotten that Shannon and Wesley shared a birthday. I love Shannon and her mom. And though I'm not related to her and I guess didn't really even know her for that long, I still claim her as a dear friend and I look forward to seeing her again when I die. 

After church, we came home and I didn't want to make lunch, so I got the cookies and ice cream out. No complaints from the kids with that.

Crumble Cookies and ice cream were the main course on the family dinner menu today as well.

Atleast we try to limit ice cream and desserts to birthdays. Although they do seem to show up unexpectedly on many other occasions. 

Katharine taking a selfie with my phone after getting her fill of sugar.

Abi and I practiced some acro flows today, ha! I saw this on Jenedy Paige's instagram and I was thinking Corey and I could do this no problem, but turns out it's quite challenging. (Jenedy's was better that what we did, in case you were wondering). 

Abi - here's a few more to try next time! Today was a first for Katharine - Natalie put her hair up in pig tails for the first time!

Although they looked more like bug antennea. What do you think, Katharine?

I think she likes them. 

Ethan gave Wesley a call tonight on our Wride Nation messenger video. Wes confessed that it just felt like a regular day. Ethan consoled him that it will only get worse from here, and how it's especially depressing on a mission. Oh no! I'll try to do something to make Hyrum's happy in August. And Wesley, I'll put it on my calendar now to try and give you a good mission birthday next year. One other bit of their conversation - "You've had a glow up" - E said to Wes, followed by "You've definitely gotten more attractive..." to which Wesley replied "That was weird, never say that to me again." Ha! I sent that to Mel for the quote wall. They are funny kids, they get it from their father. They all seriously make me laugh everyday. Well Wes, to quote Ethan - "Good talk, happy freakin' birthday."

One item of good news: I finished blogging February tonight! Ugh, I'm so behind! But good job me, keep at it. I've got 9 to do for March to be caught up with that month. Then we'll attack April and May. My BeReal went off when I was blogging, with Natalie looking over my shoulder. Natalie and I have the same hair - 

And a final note from yesterday - I've been struggling about an upcoming trip (it also might just be pms...) I'm torn cause I feel like I should go, but I don't want to take Katharine, but I don't want to leave her.... ugh. I don't want to bring her cause I'm going by myself, and that would be too much for me to be in the airport with luggage and her and her carseat... Mel agreed weeks ago to come help Corey care for her while I'm gone so as of now I've decided to leave K. I've never left a nursing baby! I've never gone on a plane by myself since before my mission when I went to visit a friend in Nebraska. I don't do stuff like this, esp leaving my nursing child. Ugh... but yesterday I picked Mel up from frontrunner and I had been crying, kinda been complaining all day, pondering at temple when I went to do initiatories, wondering what is at the root of my indecision: I don't want to take K, but don't want to have to pump, but don't want to leave her here, yeah I'm a mess. I felt better today - hoping it doesn't come back, cause I don't want to be a crying mess for the next 3 days. I opened up the Book of Mormon looking for an answer today - and the first verse I read: Alma 57:3, at the top left column: "therefore we began to make preparations to go..." I will continue to make preparations to go on this trip I guess.

Lily is 14!

Happy Birthday to Lily!

Katharine not sure why we are all singing to her again? Lily was playing it low key and didn't want to be in front of the camera, and thus is demonstrating her perfected art of the baby shield in that pic above. I guess it's good that she was playing it like a b-day is no big deal, cause I've been doing that too. I did have a gift, but it wasn't something on her list, so I let her see it and if she wanted it, she could have it and cash, or I could just give her cash. She chose the $50 bucks. I don't mean to be so lame, but I'm going to blame it on me just getting old and being tired. I've put in a valiant effort toward birthday celebrations for many years. I might be time to streamline things. But it's not cause I don't love you Lily! I promise! I didn't do anything for Katharine and you all know that I love her. Today is Lily's lucky 14th birthday. 14 is my lucky number, so the kids all get that as their lucky number too by default. My mom brought by some ice cream cakes and ice cream cones that the kids (and I) all gobbled up. 

I don't plan on doing b-days for my grandkids like my mom does for my kids. I will try to do a little better though for the little kids in the next few years... although I don't plan on doing great for the older kids (probably Natalie and older). I already have apologized to Wes for how lame his birthday will be on Sunday. 

Today we did go and visit Corey's mom in the hospital. They took out the ventilation tube, so that's good. She might not feel it, but she looks a ton better, and for that we are very grateful. She was still in the intensive care when we went by. Only kids 14 years and older are allowed back. Abi and Sophi went back first (Sophi did not deceive anyone, they knowingly let her pass even though she was underage.) Lily was there as a honestly and fully fledged 14 year old.

Most of the kids chilled in the waiting room while we old enough persons went back to see Grandma.

Katharine was being a cutie pie today. The kids found the bin of dolls in the basement yesterday when Peter had a little girl friend come over.

Katharine is excited about the babies!

You are aware that you are a baby too, right K?

A baby loving babies. We've got another little mother on our hands. This morning I went on a hike again with friends. We did Circle All, which I had never heard of. It started at the Butler Fork Trail, which I had also never heard of. You'd think I would have know about this place, since I've lived less than 12 miles from it most of my life, but alas, I had not. It was great though, and I'm excited to come up here again.

For date night, I was feeling generous and picked up Little Caesars pizza for the kids, per Abi's request "for Lily's birthday" - so nice of Abi to be looking out for Lily's b-day celebration. The kids played the Wii and Corey and I went out to Bandits for dinner, and then on the way home, we took a spur of the moment hike in Ferguson Canyon. I took Corey to the spot that we had out picnic last week. 

It was fun. and we met a nice couple from India, visiting from Orange County. Corey and him exchanged phone numbers and Corey invited them to go biking and skiing next time they are in town, so we'll be sure to share pics of that when that happens some day in the future!