Twinners

It's nice having 11:30 church. Actually, today, I thought it was at 11, so I was calling kids to head to the car at 10:40 and Wes wondered why I was going so early. Oh, that's right, it starts at 11 thirty! So then Corey and I both cleaned around the kitchen a bit and the kids played outside. I had gotten Peter dressed in a plaid shirt, but then he wanted a tie on, which didn't look quite right, so Wes helped him change and ended up dressing him as his little twin. Down to them both wearing white socks! 

Corey said says that's a fashion no-no, but they pulled it off pretty good.

Posing for the camera. 

Abi was wearing a black and white dress, and they kinda looked like they were ready for a school dance. I took a picture of them, but her eyes were closed and they both didn't like how they looked so they deleted it. As the Johnsonfiles says, when it comes to photos, everyone is only looking at themselves, right? Sophi and I and Natalie were wearing black and white too, and I said that we were going to the black and white ball, and then Abi got the song "Cruella Devil" stuck in her head.

One of our highlights after church is having Peter come show us the picture he colored. He is our favorite little man, and yes Peter, Heavenly Father does have a plan for you!! 

After church, Abi wanted to watch My Fair Lady, so we did and that was fun. Then at 4, our friend Gabriel came by with his daughter Valentina (3rd to last pic) and Valentina's husband Michael. Gabriel is Angela's husband, our friends from Chile, who saved us when we were trying to fly home in 2011. That is one of many fun memories with their family (and this is one of my personal favorites). Gabriel was here to drop off his daughter up at BYU Idaho last week, exciting for her! So it was nice to have them here. After dinner was in full swing, I snuck upstairs to rest for a little bit. When I woke up, the kitchen was cleaned up and the house was pretty quiet. I asked Corey where the kids were, and they were playing "Try Not To Laugh" and watching old family videos. Mel has been working on getting all of our family pictures and videos together on one shared online album that we can all access. It was pretty funny watching those old videos! Joseph had come up for dinner too and was laughing at the videos of his youth. We remember that life when Joseph, Mel, and Ethan were the ones in junior high, and Abi and Lily were the toddlers. A few thoughts we had: Time sure goes by quickly! And also that Corey and I have been doing this raising children thing for a long time! And here we still are, about to add one more kid and start all over again with her. It's a good way to spend our time, and there's no one else I'd rather do it with than Corey. We're only missing two kids tonight. It's fun when as many of them are here as possible. We talked about family, and encouraged them to think about the life that they want in the future, cause pretty soon, right NOW will be the "remember when" of the videos we'll be watching, cause time keeps marching on. The semester just ended for Joseph at BYU, but he is going Spring Term and that starts up again on Tuesday. Last night he taught the kids a game called "Animal Sounds ~ 

I came to film it for a minute, and then I went to bed. 

They weren't too loud, and I'm glad that they are all friends and enjoy spending time together. I have a busy week of carpool, taking every day to cover for a friend who covered for me when we were in Florida. I might take advantage of it being my birthday soon to see if I can get my helpers to help out. Corey is taking Lily to jazz band and Joseph said he'll take the jr. high carpool for me, so that is nice. 

Temple, Violin, Soccer, & Biking

It was a good Saturday. Mel, Wes, Abi, and Lily went to the Jordan River temple to do baptisms early at 7. 

Abi scheduled that herself again, I'm impressed. Corey and I went to Draper yesterday morning for a session, since it was an online school day for the elementary kids and no school for jr, high kids. So it was a good chance for Corey and I to go, plus I knew we wouldn't be able to do it this morning with all of our sitters gone. Corey stayed home with the little boys... including this one that we're trying to figure out how to keep out of our bed. 

(I actually don't mind so much where Peter is as long as I get to sleep too, but it would be good if he could start to sleep through the night before the baby comes... I don't think I can juggle night time interruptions from both of them...) So MWAL were at the temple this morning, C was home with ODP, and I woke up Sophi and Natalie early at 7 for Suzuki Federation down at SLCC. We entered the same doors where Natalie had her ballet performance last summer. Here's a cute pic from yesterday of Sophi getting in one last practice session of her pieces. Peter is always very quick to have us get his little violin too so he can practice with her. 

(HE IS SO CUTE)

We left around 7:45 this morning and got there with time to spare so we could figure out where to go. They left their cases downstairs, then went up to the performing rooms.

I was really impressed with the pieces that the kids played who went before us. They looked about the same age as Sophi and Natalie, but were doing amazingly hard songs in Books 3 and 4. I think we could be practicing harder and smarter, so I'm trying to think of what might work to motivate us all to work harder and learn more. There was a sign on the door that said no filming or pictures, and I obeyed for Sophi. She performed Witches Dance and Two Grenadiers. After I obeyed the rules for Sophi, I regretted it, so I did take one of Natalie. 

She played Minuet 2 and Happy Farmer. The room they were supposed to be in was locked, so our room was a hallway, but it was fine. Then we went to Costco, since we were downtown. I wanted to check to see if they still don't have ricemilk, and they don't. It's sad. I enjoyed buying rice milk in bulk and wholesale, but now I just have to go to Walmart every week and clear their shelf of the Rice Dream, if they have any. They often don't, but Friday I hit the jackpot and got 11 liters, o yeah. Corey can't do almond milk or oat milk, but he's ok with ricemilk, so that is my life, since I don't do cow milk and haven't for a few years. Corey will still get some sometimes to make tapioca. Anyway, so yeah, went to the store, got home, Corey took kids to his parents' house so that they could play and he could get work done. I took Abi to her soccer game. She was the green team. She said they lost 12-0. I lost count, but I'm not sure if their score was that high, but maybe it was. She got a slight sunburn. 

Then with all the little kids gone, I was able to sneak out with Mel and she and I went ON A BIKE RIDE!!! AT Corner Canyon!! 

The trail was nice and dry, and there were quite a few bikers out. We could still see snow up higher in the hills but they'll all be open soon. I love biking. We parked at Draper City Park and took the Porter Rockwell Trail and then did the little trail loop across from the cycle park that we took Angela and her family on try last September. It's a short, easy and fun green trail, so I hope it's not totally irresponsible of me to do that pregnant. I'm so excited to bike this summer and fall! I was telling Mel all about the trails and which ones are good and fun and pretty in the fall. It's going to be great to share it with her. 

We're trying to make space for Mel in the house. We started Monday evening by simply trying to move up a desk so Mel would have a place to work, and that has turned into a 5 day project of us switching the girls rooms all around. It's almost done - they all just need to finish putting their clothes away. Yesterday was a good cleaning day for me and I picked up everything off the floor in their rooms and shoved it in laundry baskets and onto their beds and I got the floors vacuumed. Here are the before the change pictures - Lily and Sophi's room, Sophi in middle and Lily on bottom:

I took those pics on Jan 22, when I was doing awesome at keeping the house clean (still am, pretty much). Abi and Natalie shared a room - Natalie's desk on the right, Abi's on the left.

And the boys room looks the same now as it did in January. Wes on the white loft bed, the 3 little boys in the triple bunk, O on top, D in the middle, and P on bottom.

The house isn't as clean now as it was in January, but I guess it was pretty important to me and I get a lot of pride out of a clean house, since I blogged about it a lot when I was on that cleaning streak. I'm going to try and get back on it. I'm hoping some nesting instincts kick in soon. 

Walkabout

We were one of the host houses for the neighborhood walkabout today. 

It's a fun summer tradition that our neighborhood has been doing for over 5 years. We hosted it in 2018, too, before Joseph left on his mission. I thought we went a bit overboard that time, although the kids in the neighborhood loved the open buffet of desserts. I did all the food prep for today and it turned out alright - still had plenty but I tried to keep the kids' 3rd and 4th helpings under control. We did root beer floats and orange fanta freezes, and also had a healthier option of berries with whipped cream and granola. Gabriel and Angela and their daughters came over for dinner today - 

and kept the kids entertained - 

and then when it was time to get ready for hosting the neighborhood, they helped us get everything set up. I think it went alright. It felt like a busy day though, not much of a day of rest, but that's ok. Sometimes we can worship God through a day of service. A few more pic - months ago I bought some of the Disney princess lego story books for myself to keep when I'm a grandpa, and I recently caved in and let Daniel build them and then let the kids play with them. I tried to say they couldn't mix them up and they also had to keep them in my closet, so that none of the pieces would get lost, but today that all got messed up cause Wes started building space ships and stuff - 

Boys are happy and having fun playing together - 

But my princess castles have been turned into space ships. 

They also took them downstairs to show off their handy work, and I hope that pieces aren't missing. I'll try to get Lily to fix and build them for me again, and then maybe I can hide them away. Although it was cute to see them playing together. I like it when the big siblings play down to their little brother's level.

Wild Weekend

Well, I need to catch my breath. It has been a crazy busy two days. Ok. so Friday, Corey had an interview, and I'm hoping he gets it something lined up that pays (he's currently doing two jobs that don't pay really - a game thing for Jeff and his holo lense thing for a Korean project). Ethan told me he needs to have his driving record apostilled, so I printed that and got it notarized yesterday, then drove down town to the capitol for a 2pm appointment to get that done. Then back for more errands. I went to Walmart to buy ice cream and soda for when we host the walkabout on Sunday. We are feeding the neighborhood root beer floats and berries with whipped cream and granola. Then I took Natalie to dance at 4. I bought her jazz shoes today. I had looked for some at kid to kid for some that would be less expensive, but no luck, so I bought them there at their store for $40 - ugh. I hate paying full price like that.

Her recital photos that were taken before the June Cinderella performance are finally ready -

Here and the other little bibbidi bobbidi boo fairies.

Natalie has been complaining a little bit about ballet, I'm not totally sure what her concern is, but we're hoping she doesn't give up on it just because it's challenging. 

She's a cute little girl. 

Corey and I went on a date to Nordstrom's cafe last night for date night. I had been doing a water fast. There are lots of good things about fasting, I enjoy fasting. One thing is that when I do end my fast and eat, the food tastes so much more delicious and enjoyable. Food tastes really good when I'm really hungry. I got a pear pecan salad. Delicious. I also usually feel very pretty and confident and good about myself after fasting, hence this selfie I took after I got ready to go out.

I'm liking my hair, but my scalp is still having issues. I've been trying different things - I ordered and have used Viori for the past 2 months, but I don't think that it has the answers my scalp needs. The next thing I'm going to try is Crisan shampoo and conditioner. 

Ok, so then TODAY - Corey and I got up really early so that we could drive to Payson for the temple sealing of Angela's daughter Valentina. 

That was my first time going in the Payson Temple. It was beautiful!! 

We called home at 7 to wake up Abi and Wes so that they could go help clean the chapel. 

Valentina was on a mission when Angela, Cata, and Gabriella came and visited us in 2017. Corey helped Valentina come to the US for school to learn English, and now she's married to a nice young man who served a mission in Chile. Good job, Corey, on making good things happen in their life. They got married civilly last year during covid and then sealed today. Us taking a selfie while they do wedding pictures. I'm sure they'll share those with us later. 

More pictures on Angela's facebook. After we got home, I left Corey and went to help with the luncheon for a funeral over at the church. I was there for a few hours. After getting back home, I can't remember what Peter was doing in Corey's car, but he was cute. 

After I got home, we got the kids dressed and presentable and went down for their sealing reception. Natalie dreaming of the day that she'll get married!

It was a cute little reception at the pavilion at an LDS chapel in Provo. I don't know why they didn't get the gym inside - no one was using it. It was a bit windy outside but they did a pretty good job securing most of the stuff and it stayed put for most of the evening, right up until the very end when a storm came in. 

They served Chilean completos - and there were plenty of alfajor cookies and other treats with manjar.

Owen didn't want to get out of the car right away, and I was helping kids out and seated and get the piano out, and then when Owen did decide to get out of the car, he locked it, and he locked my keys inside. That was when I started to feel like I reached my max of stress for the day. I wasn't hungry but I started to eat cookies as a distraction from the uncomfortable situation I was in. A nice guy came and broke into my car for me. The alarm went off, I paid him $175, and I was grateful to have a ride home again. I am willing to do my part to pay for this service to keep it alive and available to the public.

AH. So then Corey and Lily provided music for the evening.

And the little kids walked around throwing rocks. 

And then there was dancing - 

And we tried to contribute to the festivities by doing our part on the dance floor.

Corey cutting the rug cement with Peter!

My two favorite males - 

It was a party, and it was a really busy day, and I probably would have been ok "calm"-wise had Owen not locked my keys in the car. But after that I started mindlessly overeating the reception refreshments. Awareness is the important first step. Next time I hope I will recognize the stress, sit with is, and be ok with it rather than try to bury it under sugar. Now it's time for bed. It's been a bit of a nuts first week of this school year - with me being on my own for a few days, and the delays of Corey and Wes coming home from Guatemala, and the soccer tournament, and yeah. I am grateful for a day of rest tomorrow. ...well, kinda a day of rest maybe? Corey invited Angela and her family over for dinner, AND we're one of the host houses for the neighborhood walkabout. But I'll try to relax a little bit and see if I can charge my batteries before we start week 2 of the school year! So far it's been a doozy but I'm hoping I will be able to get into the swing of it all.

Forty Four Stories

Happy Birthday to my #1.

Last night, I couldn't sleep (no more pandemic news after 9 pm!) and as I lay there trying to relax my brain, I decided to focus on what I could do for Corey's birthday. I started thinking of fun Corey stories, of many of the times he's made us laugh, and I thought I could share FORTY FOUR posts here (...since he's 44 today!) And I am not sure if that is too high of a number, and thought maybe I should just do FOUR and FOUR, but we're gonna try the 44 and see how it goes. And with over 3000 blog posts, I should have enough material to draw from, so we'll see how this birthday tribute goes... (I think it will help me if I break them into different Corey categories...)

COREY IS FUNNY
1) The first one I thought of last night this Family Classic from 2010 of Corey and Hyrum spitting in each others' faces. (Fill in Blank) vs. Hyrum
2) Disney On Ice - also very funny, it's a favorite of mine that still makes me laugh out loud!
3) Saving Us from the heat of Death Valley with his Swamp Cooler skills

COREY IS COMPETITIVE
4) Sauerkraut Battle
5) Birthday Water Fight
6) Another Waterfight!

COREY IS ADVENTUROUS
7) Rio in 2007
8) Waterfall in Costa Rica "A drive in the car and a bathroom break and we're already maxed out..."
9) Maresais Beach
10) Solo in St. George with the Kids
11) Midway when I was at the hospital with Peter

COREY IS PATIENT
12) Swimming with 7 kids choking him
13) Planning a Ski trip for a family of 8
14) Family Classic - 3 year old Abi in "The Hold" (and says she hates Corey)
15) Part 1 - Detained by the Chilean PDI and Part 2 - Jumping Through Hoops to get back to the US
16) The Hold with Lily
17) The Hold with Natalie
18) Teaching A Toddler to Ski
19) Owen in the Hold = cute naptime
20) Skiing with Kids in Park City

COREY IS A GREAT DAD
21) Boating at Jordanelle
22) Homemade Ice Rink
23) Ultimate House Tag in Brazil 2015
24) Classic Fun Center
25) Escape Room
26) Funtopia
27) Camping and Hiking

Picture of us from 2012

COREY IS ROMANTIC
28) Picture of our First date
29) Three and a Half Years Apart
30) And Together Again!
31) Begin Date Night Tradition
32) Early Anniversary Trip to Hawaii "Will this do?"

COREY'S FRIENDS
33) 20 Year High School Reunion
34) Telling Porter Rockwell stories to all the neighborhood kids
35) Us Visiting Angela
36) Angela Visiting Us - he worked harder  ...but I won the "highlight of their trip" award!
37) Jeff and Casey
38) Rafael and Natalia
39) Kiran from India
40) Diego and Iveth
41) Burmese Friends
42) With Brian in Peru
43) Junior
44) Victor

Phew! With all the usual interruptions that only took a couple of hours, not too bad. And Corey has more friends than that, those are just the ones that made the blog, my apologies to anyone if they feel bad that they didn't make the list. I do my best. I do think we'd probably have better stories if Corey blogged life from his point of view, but he's got his hands full trying to provide for our small army. Of course I could have included more, cause he's spiritual, he surfs, he BBQ's, he's got musical talent, soccer moves, and more! But we'll finish there with those 44 and call it good enough! It was a kinda normal work day for him and busy family day here, I'll talk about it tomorrow, but we hope it was still a Happy Birthday for our favorite guy!

Mom Moments

Well, yesterday the inevitable happened.  Owen's blanket broke. It is now in two pieces, the main piece, and the strip with the all important tags. Owen brought it to me last night and said to fix it, but this blanket has had more than it's fair share of mending, so much that I haven't even dared wash it for months (I know, nasty...) so I told Owen "I can't, it's broken" and lo and behold... (is this the moment we've been waiting for?)... Owen was able to go to bed without it! Am I happy? Or am I sad? Another baby is growing up and another phase of his childhood might be past and gone forever. That makes me feel kinda sad, but I guess I have two more behind him. Last night Owen didn't take Louie to bed with him either. Today he fell asleep for his nap in my room without his binky, blankie, or Louie. I kinda felt sorry for Louie though...

Tonight when we were going to bed, I gave Owen his blanket strip, which he rejected, and so I tried to just give him his binky and Louie, and he threw Louie across the room! (Well, as far as a 3 year old can throw a toy). I picked up this dear stuffed animal and told him sorry and hugged him. I can't find if I ever blogged it, but some time ago, I think before Peter was born, Owen woke up during the night and I layed down with him, and then I had this random thought that if Owen were to die, what would I do with Louie? Would I keep him with me, to remember my little Owen, or would I bury him with Owen to keep Owen safe? I don't know what I would have done, but the thought of it made me cry, so I was laying next to Owen at 4 in the morning crying about Owen being gone and what I would do with Louie. But now I might not have to worry about that. All this time, Louie has been a faithful companion, and just like that, it's over. Doesn't seem right. We'll see if Owen takes him at all this upcoming week. If not, I will be taking Louie and putting him on my shelf where I keep my babies' faithful but forgotten toddler toys like Natalie's leopard.

So been feeling a bit sentimental today. Remembering my little ones, I can't stop time and tuck away their childhood (Lily's pillow) but I will try to savor the moments. The good, the bad, the irritating and the messy. Today it was mostly the irritating and messy. The kids haven't messed up the floor from it's mop and shine yesterday, yay. But there's always the mess that comes from a family of 14 - they all contribute to the mess. Abi was trying on different jackets for school before she left... I began to tidy up after, and I had already picked up 3 of her jackets in the side room, I then came into the front room to find two more...

She is my best kitchen cleaner, but clothes are her weakness. She leave a big mess of clothes in her bedroom, she just drops them. This morning, after looking at her room again, I told her we gotta break that habit. Took the jacket pick so I can remember to revisit the topic with her again. Another annoying thing - downstairs in the basement, about a week ago I found an empty box of my ABC markers which I had tried to hide from them... I looked around and couldn't find the markers. I have two sets, one old, one new, I wasn't sure if this was the old or new set. But today I found the markers in a box hidden somewhere by kids. Most of the lids were off, and it was my new set. I threw them hard into the trash can. They destroy and break things quickly and often. Sigh. Breathe...

I found those as I was cleaning up the room for a friend from Chile who is coming to stay with us for a bit (Angela's husband). I had Imagine Dragons on the bluetooth - "I Don't Know Why". Yes, why!??! Why can't they stop getting into my things? I just need to lock them all in our room. I looked at the markers, tried to breath. Not a big deal, like $7 bucks maybe? Am I going to miss the mess? Or will it still visit us in grandchild form? The music played, and I felt like it was my destructor children saying it "Tell me that you love me, tell me that you love me, tell me that you love me..." I don't know why they seek and destroy, but I will try to remember what is important. They are more important than markers. I am trying to practice being calm. I had a few voxer chats with Holly about that too - give myself an opportunity to breathe. Oh, and Peter threw up on me this morning too - right after he ate, he started coughing and made himself gag...

Luckily I was holding him towards me, so I was able to cup it all in my chest between Peter and I

Yay, it didn't get on the carpet. All the mess and struggle is giving me experience and teaching me to be patient and calm and to control what I can control. I can control myself, they need me to be that steady rock for them, a rock of calm and security. It will all become good memories eventually anyway, I will try to be calm and enjoy the now before these baby and toddler and childhood moments all slip away forever.

Tickle Peter

Well, Peter is pretty adorable and it's so fun to watch him grow. He is starting to laugh! Mel got a few good smiles and chuckles out of him today.

Isn't he so pretty?!?

Here's the video of his delightfulness

So, we're all still obsessing over this little man, and that's about it.

 

There are less than 3 weeks of school left for the older kids. Our friend Junior is going to stay with other neighbors for a few weeks, which is very helpful, cause we've got another Latin American guest coming tomorrow, Gabriel from Chile, Angela's husband. Corey knew Angela on his mission and they became good friends and have kept in touch. They helped us have a place to sleep when we couldn't get out of their country back in 2011 when we lived in Chile for a few months. And we have since been able to have them visit us here a few times and make some great memories. I love them, but I do think all the hosting we're doing is taking a slight toll on me. My morning routine is off and haven't been exercising as well. I brought up my weights from the basement but haven't been using them in my room. So I feel a little off balance. But I am still eating or drinking Kale everyday, so that's a win. With it being May with all of the crazy end of the year make a dash for the finish line chaos it brings, I'm not going to beat myself up, just going to try and keep going slow and steady. It's been nice having Iveth come help.