Itty Bitty Vacation

Angel has been wanting to go to the beach.  That's a day and a half drive away, my dear.  So we went to the lake instead.  Hey, that counts as a beach, right?  We spent the afternoon and it was glorious to just relax and be together.

And no one got sunburned.  Bonus.

These are the memories childhood is made of.

Auf Wiedersehen

I won't say goodbye.  And I won't say I am completely happy about this.  What mother wants her boy to go?  Not this one.  I'm happy to see them progress and grow, but my mother-heart wants to keep them close and love them here.

Alec and Ben just before Alec left for basic training.  What great boys!

But I got my first letter from Alec in basic training.  It did me good to hear from him.  He says send stamps.  Yessir.  And I'm ok with the situation now.  It's not like I can do anything about it.  I worried and worried until I couldn't sleep.  That is a terrible way to live.  So I got a blessing and prayed a lot, and the Lord soothed my poor stressed-out heart.  I can be happy again.  Love my boys!

Hot, Hot

It's summer.  Oh so summer - my recent end of school year pictures notwithstanding.  It's hot.

We're running out of water, too.  We just had watering restrictions put into place.  We can water our yard on three specific days each week, from 6 pm until 10 am.  If we had an automatic watering system, this would be easy.  However, our 40-year-old sprinklers broke this spring.  Unlike every other spring we have lived here, the annual Great Sprinkler Break was not one that we could fix with a lot of digging, a lot of new sprinkler heads, and a lot of money at the home improvement store.  So now I water the grass in our large yard by dragging around a hose.  It's not all that hard, but in temperatures topping 100, I can't seem to manage to keep the grass green.  It looks pretty dry and hot.

And yesterday our air conditioning just failed.  Last night it was 90 degrees.  In our kitchen.  At dinnertime.  Needless to say, there was no cooking of dinner going on in there.  We bailed out, got pizza, and took it up the canyon.  So glad we have a canyon nearby where it is so much cooler.  We ate our pizza in a beautiful spot in a forest in the mountains.  It was so peaceful and shady - no one wanted to come back to our hot house.

So when we got home, we set up the tent in the backyard.  The tent held six of the kids.  No, five.  No, four.  Now five again. And six... and five.  The tent doesn't really hold the children very well.  But those who were in it thought it was great fun to camp in the backyard.  A couple more tried to sleep on a mattress on the ground, or in a hammock.

When Trent got home from work around 10 pm (yeah, that's pretty normal.  And sometimes early for him.), he inflated a big air mattress for the parent-people-who-are-too-old-to-sleep-on-the-ground.  I thought sleeping outside meant that we would be turning in early, or at least when it gets good and dark.  I was wrong.

We got all settled in around midnight.  And then I swatted bugs for a while.  It was still hot, although much better than inside.  A breeze kicked up which was more pleasant still.  And then the neighbors came home.  I listened to them talk, then yell, then set off fireworks.  Real fireworks, the kind that fly up into the air and explode.  At 1 am.  Trent bolted up, delirious from sleep, thinking that we were being shot at.  I'm glad he had been able to sleep to that point.

At 2 am, I finally gave up and went inside.  I figured that with the breeze and our windows open, the house would have cooled off somewhat, and I could take a cold shower and get my hair wet if I needed more cooling.  I laid in bed and watched the electric storm - close enough to see good flashes of lightening, but too far away to hear more than a faint murmur of thunder.

At 3 am, everyone else came in, too.  The gentle breeze had given way to a 25 mile an hour wind, with gusts getting close to 40 mph.  The tent came down, all the bedding piled up, and everyone rushed in.  We hurried around, battening down the hatches.  All the windows in the house were wide open to take advantage of the 74 degree wind, but we had to prop all the doors open and tie down anything that could blow away.  All the kids were tucked back in, either to their own beds, or to the rec room floor.

Weary now, I stumbled back into bed at 4 am.  And slept.  Until the phone rang at 6.  When I finally woke up again, it was past 9.  Blazes!  The sun was high, all the windows were still open, and the house had heated up again.  "At least it's a dry heat."  Yeah.  A dry heat wicks away every bit of moisture from your skin, your eyes, and your lips.  And it's still hot.

At 1 in the afternoon, the kitchen is only 82 degrees.  Maybe I should go clean it up.  The boys are in the somewhat-cooler basement.  No one wants to move.  We're all a little short-tempered.  Angel and Georgie are laying on the floor, claiming they are not tired.  Everything is a mess.  And poor Freddie has a fever.

Hot. Welcome to summer.

God Bless America

Well, I did it.  I packed up my boy and shipped him off.  He's halfway across the country now, in basic training.  I suppose I shouldn't say that I packed him up because he did it all by himself.  But it was harder to watch him pack than it ever has been for me to actually pack anything.

His last week here was a delight.  He went to the temple, accompanied by three of my four fabulous brothers - and a sister-in-law and my dad.  We celebrated afterwards by going out to lunch.  We laughed and talked politics and tried to disintegrate the inside of our mouths by trying all of the hot sauces they had - mixed together. Ay, yi, yi.

I tried to savor the last moments with my boy.  I won't see this again for a while.  Makes me want to pick him up, cradle him in my arms, and tuck him into bed.

Won't see this again for a while, either.  I've loved hearing him pound out "Armies of Helaman" when he thought I wasn't listening.

He got all caught up on his screen time, which is good because he won't have any at all for a long time.

Alec has been helping my dad work on his model train these past months.  Strike that.  Alec has been helping my dad with his model train for years.  Playing with trains is something they both enjoy so much.  And that they can do it together is a total bonus.  Love to see the love of these two.

My dad told some fun stories about when he was in the army.  He knows a lot better than we do what Alec is in for.  

And now Alec's room is empty.  All his things are packed up, ready to be stored away so David can move in.  There is an emptiness, not just in his room, but in my heart.  He left last fall, too - to go to college.  But this is so much bigger.  I can't call or email.  He won't come home for the weekend.  And when he does comes back, months from now, he'll be different.  Grown up.  His own man.  Not my boy anymore.

God bless America.  Keep her safe and free from calamity.  Bless the lives of those who dedicate their lives to her protection.  And bring my boy home again.

Gray and Yellow

My beautiful niece had a baby recently.  It is always an amazing process to get a new bundle of love from Heaven to here.  But this one was especially special.

They had a hard time getting this sweet baby here.  Last year, the new parents were so thrilled to announce their pending addition.  We all cheered.  But there was a miscarriage late in the pregnancy and we cried for her.  After the tears dried, they tried again.  Another pregnancy, and we were happy for them.  

Cautious, careful.  It is hard to rejoice when you are afraid to lose again.  The pain of a previous loss dampens, makes it harder to be happy.  The baby threatened to come early, too early.  Hospitalizations and worry finally ended in the safe arrival of a tiny baby.  She was too anxious to get to this life, to meet her sweet mother and loving daddy.  Her life was tentative, supported by teams of hospital workers.  We prayed and hoped for them.

At long last, the sweet baby could go home.  She was strong and healthy and ready to get on with living.  I made her a soft afghan to wrap up in to remind her that some days feel gray, but others are bright and sunshiny.  We all have ups and downs, but neither direction stops our progression.  Through the middles of our downs and ups, our grays and yellows, we find the white of peace.  The white of  feeling love in the heart of a storm or in the midst of joy.  That's the love that comes from Heaven to sustain us.  That's the sweet white love this new baby comes from, and brought with her.  

Welcome, Maylee.  We love you.

End of School

Ach!  I found some pictures of the end of school.  So we're a little bit behind, but here we go.

David did a splendid job in his first Shakespearian play.  I forget which one it was, but the sixth graders did an impressive job.  What I like the most was how David, looking over the script, decisively picked out his favorite character.  He practiced and worked on the lines for tryouts and landed the role.  After that, he kept studying until he had the whole thing down, backwards and forwards.  I'm a dud on stage, so this is especially impressive to me.  Way to go, buddy!

Isn't he handsome?  I'm sure I'm not biased a bit.  This is Ben's "Mom I've got to go, my Prom date is waiting.  You really have to take a picture?" pose.  I was proud of him for wanting to make his own corsage.  He helped design and shop for all the parts, so patiently.  Ultimately, we ran out of time so Mom did most of the work on it.  I'm happy to help out, though.  Glad you had a great time!

And a few shots from the elementary school's dance festival.  Evidently, David felt victorious about how well he did.

I like watching Eddie's enthusiasm.

They always have a "everybody come out and dance" number at the end, which the little ones love.  Trent is a fabulous dancer, by the way.  Just saying.

And it wasn't too hot this year.  I think that's a first.  I'm gonna miss this dance festival tradition.  It's our last year at our favorite elementary school, and I'll miss it already.

Ben and David both went to end-of-school parties which had a chalk throw.  They toss colored chalk up in the air and get colorful as it lands all over you.  Just looking at them makes it a trifle hard for me to breathe, thinking of all the dust in the air.  But it's fun to see them afterwards.  We have learned to brush off as much as the chalk as possible before you shower, so it doesn't stain.

There.  Now we can do summer.  {as if we weren't sweating from the heat already}

Sleeping Angels

I'm in love.  Because I think my little tykes are adorable when they are sleeping.

And funny, too.  They might remind me of Charlie's Angels.

Except that they are my angels.  Sweet little spirits sent to my straight from Heaven.

Oh, and they are quiet, too.  Nice.

Freddie has a special gift of sleep that enables him to roll onto the floor and not wake up.  I wish I could sleep that soundly sometimes.

I love that they all like to snuggle up together.  Angel doesn't always like to sleep with the twins - they are getting to an age difference where they can drive each other crazy... especially when they are tired and need to sleep.  But I often find them curled up around each other.  Especially the twins.  Except for their first week, when Freddie was in NICU, they have never slept apart.  And they don't like to be apart.

I understand.  I love to be together with them, too.  Thanks, Heaven.  Love my tots.