Cowabunga Bay for Last Day of Summer Break

I feel like we've done a good job getting out this week and enjoying the last few moments of summer vacation. Today we put the cherry on top with a day at Cowabunga Bay.

Originally I thought we'd go on Wednesday, but after two full days of sun at Bear Lake on Monday and Tuesday, Abi and Lily got so sunburned that I thought they needed a few days to recover. Plus that way I was able to get some chores out of them and held Cowabunga Bay as a carrot reward to keep them working. We went today and I made sure that the new skin on their noses stayed coated in lots of sunblock.

We had a lot of fun, just like last year. Only this year I left the complaining teenager at home and took our cousins. We had enough tickets for them cause Corey and Ethan didn't come either. I did it all by myself again!! Go me, a mom taking 11 kids to Cowabunga Bay, do I get an award for that or anything? I like when I do activities that leave me impressing myself. Last year was the first time I'd ever done an activity like that, taking all of the kids out on my own without Corey, and now I feel like I do it a lot, so I'm getting better! Of course I couldn't have done it without the older kids being such good helpers. Wes was the best of that group.

Abi and my nieces were great helpers too! Rhyan with Daniel and Owen in the kids cove

They loved the slide!

At the top of that slide were little holes with water bubbling out, Daniel would put his hand over it and try to hold it like he was catching a frog. I'll tell you a funny thing about that in a minute. Mel with Daniel -

Alix and Abi admiring Peter

We had fun and then stood in a long line to order pizza, fries, and frozen grapes for lunch.

Everyone got enough to eat and were ready with energy to go have more fun.

...except it looks like Peter is still hungry. No pizza for Peter? Sorry baby, so sad for you.

He munched on a few fries and then I nursed him while Daniel finished off the fries.

It was super busy and crowded. Note to self: next time don't wait until the last weekend of summer. There were no chairs, but thankfully we brought a few of our own, so that was good. We moved our chairs to wherever there was an open spot with shade. After taking care of Peter and letting Daniel have a little bit of a rest, we went back over to Kids Cove. Natalie did the waterslide alone and felt excited that she did it all by herself.

Daniel relaxing in the shallow pool - 

Ahh, nice to take a little break.

He did pretty good considering he hadn't had a nap.

So I stayed there and watched Peter and Daniel play in the water and Natalie go down the slide. Wes and Abi and Lily and I all checked in with each other throughout the day to see who had who of the little kids. They braved the lines and went down the slides, did laps in the lazy river, and played in the pool. It was a little stressful to have them all in different parts and to not be able to see them all, but I was trusting that they would be careful and safe.

Around 5:00, Daniel went on top of the slide where the bubbling water was. He cupped it in his hands over it like before, and layed down on his hand for a pillow, and fell asleep...

I thought it was really funny. I just let him get in a nap. A few other parents checked on him too, wondering if he was okay and whose kid he was. "He's mine..." I'd say from the side as I held Peter. 

None of the toddlers walking over him thought that anything was out of the ordinary. They all just kept going about their slide business, Daniel kept napping.

Eventually Wes came to check on me, and he took Peter while I got Daniel off the slide and we moved over by the pool. 

It was only open for another 30 minutes, so thankfully it was less crowded as people started to leave so we found a chair in the shade by the pool. How was your power nap, Daniel?

Overall, great afternoon. This Get Out Pass is a good thing for us, if we keep renewing it, I think Cowabunga Bay will be a annual summer tradition.

Some Last of Summer To-Do's

We're down to the "school is starting soon" wire. I spent the day getting some tasks done. Abi had an orthodontist appointment today - and she gets her braces off on her next visit!!! (We love Dr. Dave!)

Wow, has it already been a year and a half since she got them on?!? Man, these kids just keep growing. She's not wearing her glasses cause they got kinda bent outta shape a week ago when Mel stepped on them or something, so Abi has been walking around without them. And it looks to me like she has red frizzy hair in that picture. She's like not a kid anymore or something. Starting Jr. High next week, man. I had my last orthodontist appointment this week too on Tuesday. While I waited I read an awesome story in LDS living about a couple who escaped North Korea and found the Church of Jesus Christ in South Korea, such an AMAZING STORY!!! I love knowing about and being a part of the Savior's great latter day work!!

I stole their magazine on Tuesday (when I was at my appointment) so that I could share it with Corey and then I brought it back today. On our way to the orthodontist, we stopped by my parent's house briefly, where Ethan was hard at work. Yesterday he wanted to pick up his SBO sweater so bad, but he didn't have the money for it. We paid the first half of it in the spring and he has to pay the 2nd half of it. He knew all summer that this was an upcoming expense so... we didn't think we should totally bail him out, so I had my mom do it. Ha. So she offered to give him enough work to pay it off, but he had to go work today and tomorrow. He was hoping it would be office work and he could soak his recently operated on toe while he wrote deposits. But no, it was yard work. She said "Good news is that you can choose whichever hat and gloves you want!" To which he replied "...YIPPIE..." So he wasn't prepared for yard work, so I brought him some socks and shoes when Abi and I went to the orthodontist. Doesn't he look happy? I reminded him that he said he'd do "anything" to get his sweater "today"

Good kid. After Abi and I got home today, Hyrum helped me fix the flat tire, cause Corey took the van to work, and Eth was going to be leaving with the Fiesta, and I wanted a car. So I tried fixing the flat we got on Monday. I tried doing it by myself but those bolts would not budge. I was struggling until Hyrum came for moral support, and then he gave more than moral support and got his hands dirty with me.

Good kid. After that I figured we better get the tire fixed, Corey said they were under warranty, so I drove it to Firestone. Corey met me there and stayed to get it fixed. When it was done, he headed home and then took Hyrum out to get his license. So we have another driver. Driver 1 was Joseph.  Driver 2 - Mel (Sorry, Corey took her to the DMV so I'll have to go digging for pictures Corey took - they all just send up on I never documented your license day, but she still didn't have it in May but got it sometime before June was over...)  Driver 3 - Ethan.  And now Driver 4 - Hyrum! He studied for drivers Ed, he passed the test and got his permit, he completed the 40 hours, he parallel parked, he smiled for the camera, and walked out with his license.

He even smiled for his parents' camera this time (unlike his "smile" for me when he got his permit). Sad part of this is how pricey it's going to be to have TWO teenage boys driving, yikes. I'm gonna pretend I don't care how much our car insurance is going to be now. (!!$!). So Corey took Hyrum to the DMV. The little girls enjoyed a free day and played with friends. They came home from her house with goodies - two new backpacks (cause she got a new one, even though these two "old" ones are like in perfect condition) and some of her old costumes that don't fit her. Abi helps Sophi transform into Cleopatra.

Everyone's enjoying these last few carefree days! Reality is coming up soon! And here's one more pic of a cute kid. We love Peter!!

Two New Caterpillars

So usually I have caterpillars to babysit during Park City. But this year... nothing. Last year wasn't as great as 2017, but this year, to not have anything left me more than a little concerned. No eggs, no caterpillars, nothing but a lot of empty milkweed in the back yard. 

I'm hoping it's not cause they're all dying and will be extinct!! I've been googling information that has me worried! ...
Monarch Butterflies in Crisis
Protecting the Future for Monarch Butterflies
Scientists Scramble to Learn Why Monarchs are Dying so Quickly
Monarch numbers cut by 90% in the past two decades

That would be so sad if monarchs become extinct! So for date night, I asked Corey if we could go see a 3D movie at Thanksgiving Point "Flight of the Butterflies" so I could get my monarch fix and maybe some hope for their species. I liked it and I think Corey did too! Peter slept through it.

It was funny, Corey and I met there for the movie. He came straight from work. And at first he went to the Megaplex theaters. Then he came over to the dinosaur museum were this film was. "There are more people over there..." he teased. Yeah, this theater isn't showing the new Hollywood flicks. I had bought out tickets and we went over to go into the empty theater. "You can sit anywhere you'd like" the lady said as she opened the door for us. But there was one other couple sitting in the middle of the top row. "Not anywhere..." Corey joked. Yes, not those two seats that those two other people are sitting in, but we have plenty of options. The movie was great. I am amazed that they are able to film something so small as the caterpillar coming out of it's egg. There was so much detail! I learned somethings that I did not now before. Monarchs can travel 50 miles a day. And they can be like a mile up in the sky when they fly!! But they don't flutter that far, they glide in the air. Like they are blown where they need to go - that's how they migrate! They said that the monarchs migrate during the day and rest at night. So I decided to check the milkweed the next morning again, and I found two eggs on Saturday morning!! Yay! The eggs turned black today and one of them came out tonight, the other one will probably be out before midnight.

I'm so happy we have two!! I will pray for their little lives! And you can bet I'm against abortion. A little human baby is smaller than these caterpillars, and his or her life is even more valuable. I honestly don't understand how any lover of nature or earth could support abortion. Protect these helpless creations, let them all live. I hope these little guys make it. If they do, we'll match our 2018 butterfly total. Also, at church on Sunday we had a lesson on repentance. I had monarchs on the brain. She shared how in President Nelson's recent General Conference talk, he spoke of being and doing better. He spoke of how we do that through repentance. He shared that repentance comes from the Greek work "metanoao". The prefix "meta" means change, like in Metamorphosis "change form". Change - we can change like a butterfly I thought - by feasting and feasting (not on milkweed, but on the word of God) and that will help us GROW (like the caterpillars grow!) and soon we'll have a mighty change of heart, just like the caterpillars have a mighty change and become new creatures. We like them can become new creatures that can reach new heights that their former little caterpillar selves could have never have imagined nor done on their own. We have to change. We do it through the miracles Christ give us as he blessed us with growth and he will help us become new creatures that are like him. I'm going to keep pondering on that and trying to understand repentance better and how I am supposed to do it daily. Grow little catterpillars, grow! I will grow too, time to go feast on the word.

When They Remember Their Mother

I've recommitted myself to writing to Joseph. We've kinda slacked off with writing him now that we talk to him via video every week. But he asked for letters, so I wrote a good one last week, and did another good one today. Go me. Of course we'll still "parent" Joseph for the rest of his and our lives, but our parenting job of guiding and preparing him is done. He's out on his own and he seems to be a fuctioning adult, so maybe we did a good job. Here's my letter to him today:

Hi Joseph! 

It's been a good weekend. I've studied the Book of Mormon a lot this week - I started over with 1 Nephi at the beginning of the month but got on a nice tangent after reading 1 Nephi 17:3 with the "And thus we see" phrase. I looked up each time that phrase is used and what we are being taught - cause that phrase to me means they are emphasizing and pointing out "This is the point I'm trying to teach you..." and it's usually Mormon pointing out something to us in the latter days, and once when they are teaching the Nephites - Alma teaching Zeezrom (Alma 12:22). Here is a picture of the list I made. I used my smart phone to search for the phrase, so I think that is all of them. 

I made a chain in my scriptures, numbering each verse and then listing each reference before and after. I also loved Helaman 12 - like I could have highlighted that whole chapter as a point of the story - I nicknamed it Mormon's Rant, cause he kinda just goes off!

What else... we cleaned the chapel on Saturday morning. Natalie worked a little bit but then she wanted to teach us a lesson so she wrote on the white board and said "CLEAN THE CHURCH" (CLI THE CRSHR) while we worked. She is so cute, I'm going to miss her being gone all day next week when first grade starts.

For date night Dad came with me to see a 3d Movie about monarchs at Thanksgiving Point. We haven't had any butterflies yet this year, but I finally did find two eggs on Sunday morning. They haven't hatched yet, I hope they're not duds... Monarchs don't flutter when they migrate, they glide! they can be a mile up in the air floating basically in the air currents, pretty amazing. And at church we talked about Pres Nelson's talk about repentance - from the greek work metanoao - and I thought of metamorphosis - and she shared Elder Christofferson's daily bread talk, and I thought of how a caterpillar just feasts and feasts and eats and grows (like we feast on the word and that helps us grow) until we have a mighty change, like butterflies into chrysalis, and after that we learn to let the wind/Lord take us where he wants us to go. 

Monarchs are so amazing. I learned stuff I didn't know, Pretty amazing creatures. Peter slept through it. 

Dad and MHALSNO are on their way back from Bear Lake. I went up there yesterday with EDP, W was at Telluride. It was fun though!! I think we should do it again next year.

The beach  was basically as close to the tents as the beach was to the Stouts house in Costa Rica. Beautiful blue lake, it was shallow so there wasn't a fear of kids drowning...

Plenty of shade for the adults to sit and watch but not get cooked (Dad still got pretty red, I need to help him remember to always put on sunblock, his poor balding head just get burnt everytime, even in the shade.

It was what Park city should be but can't be because of the tv and too many different places to split off. We were all together, Mark cooked the meals for them, everyone was there, Dad, Gma and Gpa Wride, and SNO stayed in the worldmark room, the rest of the kids camped on the shore. 

Ethan and I drove back to pick up Wes and for the Crescent End of Year party at 7. When we left Logan the car light said low pressure, and when we pulled in the drive way it was all the way flat!!!

I don't know if it was like that the whole time or just got flat near the end, but I feel very blessed and protected that we didn't get stuck on the side of the road with a flat or with a blow out. Maybe we ruined the car rim, I don't know, but yeah, I felt so thankful that we arrived home safely.

I went to the orthodontist today, I have 8 more weeks then I'm done! Yay. While i waited I read a LDS LIving magazine story of a couple who escaped North Korea. He left first,  he found the Catholic church, prayed for his wife to be able to come, he helped her escape. He wanted her to come to mass with her, but she didnt' like it. But he'd beg her to come and make deals like that he would clean the house if she came or other things. Then she let in LDS missionaries and really liked what they taught about eternal life, cause she knew she wanted to be iwth her family back in North Korea but that she would also never see them again on earth. So she loved it and loved going to the LDS church, but he felt loyal to his new catholic faith and friends, so then she made a deal with him: Come to church wtih me, and if you don't feel anything, I wont' ever bring it up again and we'll be catholic. He went and felt it as soon as he walked in the chapel. He said he saw the word "GOD" written above everyone's heads. So yeah, Jesus won that one!! They came to Utah as refugees and are living in Provo and going to Utah Valley and were sealed in the Provo City Center temple. I just love the church. I love the scriptures. We are so so blessed to have them, how did we get so lucky? What can we do to ever thank him enough? I hope one of you kids goes on a mission to Korea. I feel like Alma, but I also know what God has called me to do. My mission is motherhood!! And I love it and feel blessed to lose my life in serving you kids and your dad. I like this quote I heard from Elder Maxwell (as we drove to Bear Lake yesterday - October 2000 "The Tugs and Pulls of the World") "Let us likewise honor the special place of the family. As James Q. Wilson wrote: “We learn to cope with the people of this world because we learn to cope with the members of our family. Those who flee the family flee the world; bereft of the [family’s] affection, tutelage, and challenges, they are unprepared for the [world’s] tests, judgments, and demands” (The Moral Sense [1993], 163). How ironical that some go “into a far country” (Luke 15:13), leaving the nourishing family garden—in which there may be some weeds—and go into a desert with its tumbling sagebrush." I feel so lucky to be able to help all of you guys prepare for life! You are all learning so much and are going to do great things. Love you Joseph! So proud of the man you are becoming!!! 

xoxo

love you

Mom

I think Joseph would say that we are good parents. Acutally he did say that in a email he sent me on mother's day -

Well mothers day here is on friday, and there it is Sunday, and since we call every week we aren't going to be calling on Sunday.

Soooo I thought I'd wish you happy mother's day today!!

I didn't realize how great of a mom you were until I got out teaching families that live in broken homes. People that, for one reason or another, live in familiy circumstances that are just really hard. We're trying to help them with the Gospel, but it has also made so grateful for the gospel centered home I grew up in. Haha that's kind of weird to say "the home I grew up in" as if I finished growing up because it doesn't feel like I have even though I kind of have. I think if I'm lucky I'll be able to live at the house for a few months until school states at the Y before I'll be completely on my own. Or I'll be on my own the same day I get home. We'll see what happens I guess. But I really do appreciate all you guys have done to bring us up in a home where you and dad taught us what we should and shouldn't do and helped us learn so that we can choose for ourselves. Being a parent, I am starting to darme cuenta, is probably a lot harder than I used to think it was. And the fact that you do it with so many kids! As Iveth said in her whatsapp message you are incredible mom. People don't believe me that I have 11 siblings until I show them the photo. Then they count, ask if daniel and owen are twins, and ask where the 12th one is and I explain that he was just barely born so I haven't even met him yet. They are really super amazed and I am also super amazed. I don't know how you do it but you do. Kind of like the printing of the Book of Mormon.

So keep teaching the rest of the kids and using come follow me and helping them develop Christlike attributes and read the Book of Mormon every day and they'll all turn out great!

Thanks for all you've done and continue to do for me!! Remember that your number one fan in preaching the Gospel in the Promised Land!

LOVE YOU MOM!!

________________

So I hope and do believe that all of our kids will eventually remember us that way. But we've found a new youtube channel that I think accurately shows our relationship with most of our children right now, which is we are the bad guys that are too strict, too mean, and too demanding. The channel is called Odd1sOut or Odd 1s Out, (I'm not sure if it has spaces in it or not). So I first came across these last Thursday (8/8/19) when Corey sent me video titled "My Mom's Cruel and Unusual Punishments". Corey and I have a lot in common with this video. One reason being that Corey spent much time as a child on the inside of circular clothing racks. Another way we relate is cause of how we also sometimes use the strategy of taking bites of their treats to get them to behave,

So I think this mom is basically me, or atleast how I feel like I want to act "No sugar!"

including her semi-permanent scowl, ha. No time to mess around with so many kids. I feel like I always need to get down to business and be efficient.

I love at 5:24 where his mom kicks the cell phone from his hand. "NO wasting time on youtube!! Go Practice!"

I also liked the humor of parenting in the Clothes video, and part of the Wrong Numbers reminded me what it's like sometime as I try to point out the obvious to my teens. I'm also pretty frugal/cheap and make them pay for most of their "wants" at Walmart or Kid to Kid. I'll buy needs or treat them to shopping at the DI though, aren't I generous!

So those were my favorite parts, try to spot them if you give it a watch.

Some of our other favorites from his channel so far: Ethan, who worked as Subway for 2 days and who also knows the life of a fast food employee, enjoyed the Subway videos - Subway 1, Subway 2, Subway 3. And then today I had a flashback to my own childhood as we watched his commentary on the Dark Crystal, I remember all those freaky puppets!! My children had never heard of the Dark Crystal, and now their interest is piqued!

Oh the 80s and the entertainment we grew up with! I wonder if my mother saw that with us? If she did, what did she think of it? I don't recall having nightmares from the Dark Crystal, but I do remember being terrified of Gremlins. I never saw it, I just saw the commercial for it, and I also remember seeing a book about the movie around my house, that I looked at with curiosity and fear. Ok, so anyway, I think I had great parents. And I think and hope we're doing a good job parenting and preparing our kids for what it out there in the world waiting for them!

Bear Lake

Hey Hey! Today is Hyrum's birthday! Happy birthday Hyrum!! But we were up in Bear Lake today and so we didn't officially celebrate it. No presents or cake, but we did wish him a happy 16th. Check back in 48 hours for his birthday photos, hopefully we'll have some by then.

So, last night Corey headed up to Bear Lake with a van full of kids to spend the night. I stayed home with Ethan, who refused to do anything remotely like camping (he paid his dues during high adventure!). So the kids had fun without us. Corey sent me some pictures. Kids having dinner:

Natalie ready to roast marshmallows.

Kids at the lake shore.

Natalie with Seth

Corey booked two nights at the Worldmark Timeshare up there in Garden City, so he had a good place to stay the night with Owen. The rest of the kids camped with Uncle Mark. They were a little bit cold but had a fun time. Ethan had told me last night that he had a Jazz something-or-other and needed to work on it today. So I stayed home with him, but came to find out that Jazz thing was a party at 7pm, and he didn't have any work. So told him we were going to go up for the day. I knew exactly where to go thanks to Mel's Life360 location. :) Technology is so nice. Getting the little ones up - it always seems tragic to wake sleeping children. Daniel and Peter slept in the bed with me.

Daniel didn't have a nap on Sunday so he fell asleep at 5 pm and slept through the night, yay! They do that sometimes when we have a quiet house, hehe. In the morning I loaded them up and then got Ethan out of bed and he grabbed his pillow and blanket and we went for a drive. Left at 8am, got to Bear Lake around 10:20. We had a great afternoon there.

The older kids and cousins all liked taking Daniel and Owen out into the water.

Daniel and Owen were very brave and cute out there!

And I was able to nurse Peter in the shade and see everyone.

I think the last time we were up here was in 2014. The Bear Lake waters are GORGEOUS of course, and it was a beautiful little campground!

I texted Corey when we left, but he didn't see it, so when he was watching the kids and then saw Daniel there, he was like "Wait a minute..." and then they saw me and Peter too. Yeah, we came up! Surprise! Daniel in the water with his shoes on.

Good idea, cause the rocks there were pretty uncomfortable to walk on.

Eth picking the beach tunes to play. Lily and Sophi coming in.

All the kids played on kayaks and paddle boards.

Owen out in the water. He had such a good time!

Again, it was so shallow, it was perfect for this little timid kid. He wasn't even scared at all, he did great! So either he's finally getting brave, or the level of difficulty here was just perfect for the level he is at. Ethan, Daniel, Peter and I stayed until around 3:30, at which time we headed back (after buying a Raspberry shake) so Ethan could get to American Fork in time to get Wesley, who was on his way back from Telluride (Gallery pictures will hopefully posted here soon) When we drove up there the Evanston way, but came home the Logan way. When we were in Logan the car said "Low Tire Pressure". I opened the door and peeked at the tires on my side briefly at a red light. Looked ok. But as we pulled into the driveway, I paused so we could get Daniel and Peter out of their carseats without having to worry about the car doors hitting the kids' car or being scrunched in the garage, and that's when I saw a completely flat tire!

Holy cow! Was it like that the whole time? The car felt fine driving except for when I'd get up to 80 it would shake a little. I felt so grateful that we made it home okay! And I felt protected that we didn't have a blowout on the drive home or get stuck on the side of the freeway. Wow, thank you Heavenly Father! I pulled into the garage, and I hope Ethan and Wes help me change it tomorrow.

Now I don't want to give this place away, and I didn't spend the night so maybe I don't really know, but from what I could tell, this is a Five Star place for families. Corey and the rest of the kids might come home tomorrow or might stay until Wednesday, they're gonna play it by ear. But it was great, shout out to Uncle Mark for making this memory possible! Again, it was a great little beach for the kids to play at, shallow waters and not big waves (so low fear for kids drowning) plus we could see them from our shaded sitting spots! Not a lot of bugs, nice cool breeze, bathroom close by. It felt like Costa Rica at the Stouts place, just without palm trees, but with the bonus that it's in the US! So I loved it. I hope we come back again next year.

Secret Service

Our friends Iveth and Diego have been having trouble with their car. On Thursday Corey let them use his car to run some errands and Corey took their car into Burt Brothers. Corey used to take our cars to Firestone, most of their locations have closed, but after my happy experience on Monday, that is our new go to place for car stuff. And then Tues I took the car there for registration, it's like been "fix cars" week. So their car was done today, and after Corey drove it, he felt it was in major need of a good clean. So we decided to do let our kids have an opportunity to work and realize that it's kinda gross to clean other peoples messes, ...eventhough we were voluntarily doing, but still, we hoped it was a lesson in what it's like for parents cleaning up after their clueless kids. So we're hoping it makes them more clean conscientious. All the kids helped. Natalie and Mel cleaning the floor mats -

Daniel played with the toys that were in their car.

Abi probably did the most and worked the hardest on the inside. We told them to come over to our house and we'd give them a ride down to Burt Brothers when it was done, (even though it was already done and I had brought it home to clean!) We put it in the garage so we could finish vacuuming the inside.

After Iveth came over, we showed her the surprise.

She said "Que pena" a few times (how embarrassing) but it was fun and we liked doing the surprise. She looked like she liked it too!

Then Iveth and I and the kids all washed the outside of our vans in the driveway. Corey was working out in Riverton today, so then I left to meet him for date night at Thanksgiving Point to watch the 6:30 butterfly movie that I learned about on Wednesday, I'll share a pic of that next week in my letter to Joseph. I've been missing monarchs this year, this gave me hope that they are still alive and well. Today Iveth and Diego came by with some donuts to say thank you.

Corey and the kids were gone cleaning the church, August has been our turn each Saturday morning at 8. That's been a good experience too. It's good to work and serve, I hope we can do more of it more regularly.