Family History Kick

So I'm on a Family History kick right now. I'm not sure what got this started. Wait yes I do. I was reviewing the April 2020 General Conference talks, and in his "Hear Him" talk, President Nelson gives us quite a few promises, including this: 

"While worshipping in the temple is presently not possible, I invite you to increase your participation in family history, including family history research and indexing. I promise that as you increase your time in temple and family history work, you will increase and improve your ability to hear Him."

So I do want to be able to hear the promptings of the Holy Ghost more, so, off to do family history I go! I thought I'd start with my Grandpa Hibberts family and other things on the Hibbert line. There were 5 kids in his family - Sarah, Melvina, Abraham Owen, then my Granpa Julian, and his little brother Mark. I just wanted to get my bearings of who they were, dates of when they were born, died, etc. I had it all for Sarah, Melvina, and Mark, but I couldn't find where Owen was buried. Here is Owen.

So then I started looking for his obituary, nothing. I can't even remember what led me to what... I'd have to go look back at my notes, but somehow I found the obituary of his daugher Joye, and that gave me names of her children, then I found one of their obituaries (Kenneth Gunnarson) and that gave me names of his siblings and grandchildren, and I looked on facebook and found some of them! They told me to talk to Robert/Bob, and when he messaged me back this week, sad story, he told me that Owen abandoned his wife and mom when they were very young. So shoot, I'm sorry! I didn't mean to bring up painful memories. Bobo actually said that his mom and grandma both never talked about it, so no leads there. But then I found his other marriage, found his two kids Jereld and Steve (I found their yearbook photos on ancestry, so that was fun!) and I found Jereld's obituary, he died in 2014. That listed the names of his three kids, one of whom is still alive, lives in Vegas, and he messaged me back on facebook, yay! So I have another connection, we'll see if we find out any information there. But it's been fun. Here is a photo of my dad's uncle Mark - we don't know who the baby is

Another one of Mark.

Mark and Owen both moved to California, and since they didn't have the internet and facebook it was hard to keep in touch? So then I just started going crazy and messaging a ton of people on facebook if they were Hibberts and we either had mutual friends, or if I could tell they were members of the Church of Jesus Christ (pic of temple on their facebook or something) or if they were from Utah-Idaho-Wyoming, cause that is Hibbert country. And so I've got a lot to research and figure out, and it's fun! And this is just for my Grandpa's immediate family with Ambrose and Mary Williamson, not to mention the 8 children that were his step-siblings from his dad's first marriage with Sarah Nield. I've been on ancestry and familysearch a lot looking for stuff. The only bad thing is that this has taken away a little bit of the wind in my sails for playing violin or exercising. Cause now all that I want to do is try to find another piece to this puzzle! But it's good. Hopefully it will help me keep out of the kitchen, even if it does prevent me from getting onto the treadmill. But mostly, I hope that this does help me to hear the Savior more and draw closer to Him. I feel like it has happened a little bit already, cause I am getting an eternal perspective of how short life is, of the legacy we leave when we die, of the importance of decisions we make, and how I want to make the right decisions. I am glad to believe in life after death. I think Ambrose and Mary are on the other side, working to gather in their children - teaching those that have passed on into the spirit world that might not have had the gospel to guide them while they were here on earth. And working to prompt and gather those of us on this side of the veil to find each other. It's like my own version of Relative Race. I think it will be fun to find cousins and second cousins that are still alive! Family History isn't just a work for deceased family, it's for us living souls too, it's fun. Man, I wish I didn't have to sleep, there is so much I want to read and learn and do. But I mostly want to be present with my own children. I sure love my kids. I should go be a mom for a little bit. I need to keep kids from fighting -  O and D making up yesterday after a squabble

And stop Peter from drawing on himself! Thankfully it hasn't gotten on the walls or new couches yet, knock on wood.

Reading, Writing and Fuzzies

Owen is loving kindergarten. He comes home and writes his name and writes the alphabet and writes his number "22" - it's like a whole world of learning, writing, and drawing, has finally clicked and opened up to him and he's loving it. Today before school, he took a calendar off the wall and was pointing to Sept 22 and said "That's me!" Yep! You're #22! That's right! He's also been using his leap frog magnet backpack to draw words and practice letters. He's had this toy backpack for over a year but now he's discovered what it is for! This is his drawing of a dragon, and a little self portrait there in front of him holding a sword. So cute

He's pointing to the dragon's claws - "He had pokies."

Today I took a few photos as I walked him to the bus. He is using one of Joseph's old backpacks, which (since it is for a high school kid) almost goes down past Owen's knees.

It kinda looked like a turtle shell! It was super cute to see him skip up the street.

Today we also harvested our milkweed seeds. I've been excited about milkweed since 2012. We finally have lots of milkweed in our yard, but I am so sad that we didn't have any monarchs this year. I hope they are ok! I'm sure the fires in California have caused much damage to people, animal, plants, and insects. It's sad to think the monarch numbers are down so low. I have kinda stopped looking for eggs, maybe I'll look again a few times, cause there's still a chance! There's still hope. Ok, I'll go look and will pray and I'll keep planting milkweed and hope that they help the cycle somehow. I had like 8 pods - 3 from our yard and I grabbed 5 from some plants on the way to the bus. I took the seeds and then let the kids play with the fuzz.

We get snow in winter (real snow), spring (from out cottonwood trees), and in fall!

Blowing the snowflakes and fairies.

Snow ball fight!

Today was a rare treat after Owen left for school, cause both Peter and Daniel took a nap! I was kid free for like an hour! Owen left for school at 12:20 (bus comes at 12:34) then I came back and put Peter to bed. And around 2:00 Daniel put himself down for a nap on the couch. 

He got up early this morning, so I am glad he took a nap, or he would have gotten really cranky around dinner time. I'd like him to wake up early every morning so that I can have this hour of quiet, but Daniel usually sleeps in until 10. So we'll see if we can get our whole family on a good schedule. We've read scriptures earlier at night, which has been making us head to bed as soon as it's dark. We've had kids in bed by 10 two nights in a row! That's pretty amazing. They are all doing great. Tonight Owen shared his desk with Peter, which was so cute to see. 

I love these three little boys. 

Owen teaching Peter the ABCs

How wonderful that we did have a repeat of Monday's "good day!" My heart is full and thankful for the little joys and quiet moments of this blessed life. 

Shout Out to Socially Distant Primary Teachers

I thought I'd do a quick shout out to the kids primary teachers. They are still magnifying their callings even with social distancing. Today Daniel's teachers brought him by some Hot Wheel cars for a birthday present! And he shared with Owen, yay!

Pretty cool cars, Daniel! It's almost your birthday!

On Sunday, Peter's nursery teachers brought him by a card, lesson, and some fruit snacks. Peter is 18 months old, so yeah, I guess if we ever go back to church, he'll be in nursery! They brought by a little "welcome to Primary" note and lesson of things for him to color.

The nursery teachers are still Jean and Jim, he's a tall basket ball player in our neighborhood (last pic). I wonder if Peter will be shy to go to class? He's a little shy, but I guess Owen was too, but once he got to know his teachers he loved it. Also, moving from Nursery to Sunbeams is a kinda hard move for the kids, to have to go to class instead of play with toys, but now that church is/was just 2 hours it wasn't so hard. Plus the sunbeam teachers do a really great job. Sister Anne and Sister Holly have been faithfully delivering Sunbeam lessons each week to our front door, they are wonderful. 

I want to do a better job instructing my kids at home, like really preparing lessons and having fun activities. Maybe I'll do it as a grandma, but hopefully I can make steps to improve now too.

A Good Day!

Tonight after dinner, Natalie needed some help with her math. Lily jumped up and said "I'll help her!" and she did and it was so sweet. A little bit later, there were little kids all over the floor in Hyrum and Wesley's room reading. 

Natalie had read a book to Owen, and then they were all reading on their own. I love their little kicked up feet - 

Peter flipping through a book, awww... 

I love his little feet!!!

As Lily came up to bed tonight, she looked at me with a smile and said "Wow, today was a really good day!" Natalie also came up to me after reading to Owen, and said the same thing "Today was a good day!" And it really was a very nice day. The house is pretty clean, the kids have been working hard and practiced and were being very nice to each other. We were all feeling happy and weren't quite sure why. I said maybe it was because they had cleaned their room all the way over the weekend, so it was a nice clutter free and stress free area, and it spilled over into other areas of the house. We finished getting all of Abi's stuff moved out. We moved the black desk into Abi's room and the white ikea shelves into the girls room. I had all the girls stay and help with the process and we organized all their clothes that have been a mess for forever. We took out a lot to donate and sorted things to save. This morning when they woke up for school, they kept it clean and put things away! So maybe that started the day off on the right foot, but I also pointed out how much they had helped each other today... "That was so nice of you to help Natalie with her math!" and to Natalie "You were so sweet to read with Owen!" Serving each other is a great way to feel good and help others feel good too. There was a lovely spirit in our home. The little boys played nicely on the trampoline today. 

Sometimes I get a little nervous for Peter, cause O and D are not very careful, but Peter holds his own. 

We had violin today and Owen was a little sad to come with us, cause that meant he didn't get to ride the bus, which was cute. The things that are important to a 5 year old. He played train though and twas happy there. At home for dinner, then I gave them all a bath, we cleaned up the kitchen, they were all reading books, Corey came home late and was impressed with how well things had gone at home. I was impressed too. I hope to have a repeat!

Family Days

Today was another wonderful Sabbath day of home worship. I love family days. I enjoy partaking of the sacrament at home and having church at home, it's really special. We still have the sacrament trays here. Did I mention before how that happened? So back in March, Ethan did home sacrament on that last Sunday before covid suddenly shut everything down (where he took the sacrament to elderly couples and people that are sick and unable to come to church. That Sunday, he didn't want to take the trays back to the church after he was finished cause he was just going to do it "next week" and then there wasn't a next week and so we've had them since March. Right now, since our ward has split up the meeting into two groups (via last names that start with A-J meeting at 11:00 and K-Z meeting at 12). So since our meeting are still split in half, they don't need all the trays at once, so I'm sure it's ok that we have them! Atleast I'm telling myself that... we didn't ask permission, but I did confess that we have sacrament trays to our ward RS President. She didn't really give the ok, but they kinda laughed at our good fortune, cause with such a large family, having the small cups and tray really helps, and I wash the little cups each week. We took the sacrament once up at Park City without enough little cups for everyone and it doesn't work as well. If we just had one big glass that would work, but the big kids are too afraid of little kids germs to share. Anyway, so yea it was a nice day at home. Melodie came over yesterday for her P-day and spent the day with us. We caught her taking a nap on the couch, which in my day would have been a big missionary no-no, but I guess so would have been phoning home every week, so it's prob ok - we'll let her govern herself. We were only missing two kids for family scriptures last night. Cute seeing Wes' face as he plays with Peter

It's still a bit strange feeling to have the three oldest mostly gone. We're a small group on most week nights now, although I realize we still have 9 kids here at home and that that would not be small to others, but it feels small to us. It is quieter and less crazy. But just a little bit less crazy. Now and then we get a little bit of quiet. 

Now that Owen is a serious student of the alphabet, he has discovered and gained a great interest in the ABC books I made for the older kids. He was reading it to Peter last Friday morning at breakfast and it was so cute, I was laughing. He'd read "Ok Peter - this is J! J is for Car!! (It was Jeep... he'd turn the page...) G is for Church (that one was supposed to be GIRL - but it was a photo of Joseph and Melodie in their Sunday clothes for a family photo, hence "church" ha!) It was so funny. Corey watched him on L - Owen said "L is for Tiger" It was Lion and Corey laughed "Ooh! I was sure he'd get that one!" Owen did get P is for Popsicle right! 

We'll have to read the book with him more so that he knows what each one is for. Natalie know how to read, so it was cute to catch her reading Joseph's book to Peter on Saturday morning. "N is for nose!! Where's the baby's nose? Good job Peter!" 

"Where is your nose Peter?"

"That's right! Nose!"

Lily's book is the last one I made. I do still want to make them for Sophi Natalie Owen Daniel and Peter, but man, I'm really behind! I can do it! Maybe I can vow to myself to do atleast one by Christmas. Last year I started trying to make them online but I haven't finished those or worked on them much since then. Corey reading Hyrum's ABC book to Peter, who just was fighting the drowsiness but finally succumbed. 

Sweet little Peter.

I wonder if Natalie is comfortable reading like that over Corey's shoulder but her body on the couch behind her, funny. It looks like Corey grew a second head somehow, a little head with curly hair.

We put curlers in Natalie's hair last night again. The little girls have rediscovered the fun of sponge rollers. She's a little adorable Shirley Temple

I told her if we did it on Saturday night, then it can be crazy curly on Sunday while we're at home, and will be pretty curly by Monday for school. Today Corey gave his daughters the rings he bought for them. Sophi with her rings. 

It was funny... Corey called everyone down, and they came, and they thought we were going to read scriptures or something. 

but instead Corey just announced to the children how much he loves his daughters as he gave them each a present. 

Hyrum was like "Anything for us? ...or is there any reason why we needed to come down for this?"

"You didn't get anything for us?" "No, I just wanted you to come so you could learn that you need to treat girls special." 

Wes, did you learn what you need to learn from being here for this family gathering? haha

Hyrum and Corey made me laugh with the little exchange they had going on. I am going to try to find something for my boys. But I think what they'd really appreciate is time to play the minecraft, and I think that's stupid, so maybe I can't get them anything that would be good. Oh well. 

And no family day is complete without the toddlers being held in time out, just like the good ol' days of toddlers past.

Weekend Pics

A few pictures from this weekend. Peter yesterday morning (so much for him sleeping in his new bed) I'm probably being a push over, but he might be our last, so I'm kinda babying my baby while I still have one. 

He's so pretty.

Zombie baby.

I put curlers in Natalie's hair last night. She looked like Shirley temple this morning, and she wans't quite brave enough to go for that looks, so she put it in a pony tail.

It is fun though, she is smiling behind that mask. Last night I'm proud to say that I helped Sophi with her egg drop. Usually Corey does it and I am reluctant since it's optional and we don't have time for things that aren't required. But with Mark Rober's help, we had a great model. 

I was too cheap/lazy to run down to the store or Wendy's to get straws, so we used my milkweed stalks. They worked perfectly. We did a few practice throws out of the big boy's bedroom window, and it survived each test. So Sophi was off to school with her egg drop, which she named "the green spider." Here's Natalie last night after her hair had calmed down a little bit - she's so cute! She is already thinking about what she will be for Halloween. Maybe a cowgirl? 

They always like me to take pictures of them. 

Last night on date night, we went to Fashion Place Mall, and as we waited for a seat at the California Pizza Kitchen, Corey and I wandered into Macy's where we bought some fancy rings for the girls. I remember my dad giving me some sparkly rings when I was a little girl, I remember what they looked like and I drew them for Corey during our date. I have bought some pretty boxes a while ago, so we're going to give those to them too. Should be fun.

Wesley tickling Peter on Friday night.

Peter loves Wesley.