The Miraculous Pictures

We recently had our family pictures taken down at Thanksgiving Point and I was so, so pleased with how they turned out.  I wanted tulips in the pictures! Last year I was very concerned about being able to fully experience this last year of having all of our children at home.  With a new baby, an intense toddler, college and mission to help prepare for, and several kids in between, I knew we'd be busy and I knew Abe and I would be suffering from a lack of sleep and general exhaustion.  I just really wanted to remember the feeling of our family at this time and soak it all in.
Of course there have been challenges, but overall I feel my prayers have been answered and I have been able to enjoy and treasure this year as a family.  These pictures capture very well my feelings about this year.

There are always dirty dishes in the sink.  There is always laundry to wash, fold, and put away.  There are always books littering the family room floor.  Lego sprawl is a real thing.  The teenagers will not go to bed until midnight!  The little ones will not sleep past seven.  They argue over who gets the funnies at the breakfast table.
If you'd have told me when we were first starting out that we would have this many children, and that I would enjoy it as much as I do, I don't think I would have believed it.
I LOVE THEM SO MUCH, I ALMOST CAN'T STAND IT!

Greta at 9 1/2 months.  Perfection.  Snuggly and sweet and everything I ever hoped for in a baby.

Intensity, thy name is Peter.
And we love and adore you.
And we're a little bit afraid of you.
But we love you to pieces.

There is a mischievous little twinkle in his eyes, but he's a tender heart.  He's quite the little looker...that is to say, he is always looking for new things to collect!

Probably the last pictures of George before the teeth start falling out.  He is 6 years old.

Was someone saying something about mischievous?

Oh, my heart.  I really can't take it.  This boy is quick as a whip, with a heart of gold.

Cannon turns 9 later this month.

She is a gem!  A hardworking, determined, friendly little gem!

Faith recently turned 11 years old.  Say it isn't so.

At 14 years old, Elinor stands about 5'10" and she is seriously coming into her own.

Smart, clever, kind, and a sense of humor that keeps me laughing.

Bethany is 16 and good and faithful, playful and organized.  She is disciplined and self-motivated.

And she does not love her picture.  But I do.  And it's my blog.  So there.

I can't say too much here or I'll start to cry.  He is finally his own man, just like he's always wanted to be.  Adulthood will suit him better than childhood.  I hope a grand life adventure awaits him.

He turns 18 in July.  My goodness that went fast.

So handsome.  He is aging so well.  Some of my little darlings have noted that I look older than dad.  Charming, charming children that they are.
Abe recently announced, "It's a miracle!  I'm turning into Mitt Romney!"
He was referring to the dignified graying of his sideburns and sides of his hair.
Lucky.

If you have blonde hair do not ever complain to me about your hair going gray.  
Abe is delighted with his graying pattern.  I AM NOT.  Going gray is a rough road if you have black hair.  I know it's not much yet, but must it be right on the top of my head?

A little closer view.  I know, I know, nobody cares but me.  And once again, I guess I don't actually care that much about it.

I love almost all these pictures.  I admit the pose in this one looks like a bad high school dance picture.  Oh well, we can't be fabulous all the time.

Please excuse me while I go get a box of tissues.
Sniff, sniff.

My womenfolk.  "... Somewhere in my youth or childhood... I must have done something good."

One more because it makes me happy.

...Something very, very good.

Fox Family, May 2017

Superheroes Are Not Interesting

Greta, the little German baby!
This little dress was mine when I was a baby and my family lived in Germany.
Also, this was Greta's first day with a little hair do.  Oh, we enjoy her so much!

Yesterday we enjoyed a fun family dinner at my sister's house to celebrate our dad's 66th birthday.  These gals busted out my favorite childhood game-- "Mall Madness".  Kind of funny, since nowadays I loathe everything about the mall.
I also loved the game "Girl Talk".  Does anyone else remember that game?  I just remember that if you missed a question you had to put on red sticker fake zits.  Who thought that up?

The conversation in the picture was Clark giving Grandpa a report on his recent trip to Houston for the robotics competition.  I liked that conversation.
Unfortunately, I have recently been witness, on several separate occasions, to people discussing super heroes...ad nauseam!  Marvel vs. DC?  Avengers vs. Justice League?  Who would win in a battle between Spiderman and Flash?  Bat Girl vs. Wonder Woman?
WHO CARES?  NOT ME!  Seriously.  None of them are real.  Am I the only one that thinks Enough with the superheroes!  What is the matter with me?  Why do they not interest me at all?  Do I lack imagination?

You know what does interest me?  An outdoor symphony in a gorgeous setting on a beautiful spring evening.

Real people with real super talents!
Bethany's final concert of the year at Thanksgiving Point.  It was so wonderful.  Remember a little while back-- I took Peter and Greta to a choir concert for Faith and Cannon.  Mistake.
You'd think I would have learned my lesson and left them home.  But no.  We brought the littles along and that did put a bit of a damper on the evening.  Even so, it was lovely and next time I'll know better.

Here is a picture of our Bethany during a rehearsal before they got changed into their concert black.

They may not appreciate it now, but someday the children might be grateful their father chased them around like the paparazzi.

Happy baby, happy daddy!
We had some time to walk through the gardens before the show.  I am no gardener.  Maybe someday, but I can't get over how much I enjoy walking through the beautiful landscaping.  It even smells so good.

Cannon and George had their dance pictures on Saturday.

The prices for the professional pictures seemed outrageous to me.  So I snapped a few myself and that will have to do.

Word on the street is there is no smiling for hip hop pictures.  You're supposed to be cool.  The fact that I even just said that means I am not cool.  The fact that I don't care that I'm not cool might just make me cool.  Oooh.

Dinner out with friends to celebrate a birthday (Andrea's).  That is of interest to me.  Good conversation, tasty vittles.   I adore sweet potato fries.  Who is with me?
Also, when taking a group picture at a table, it's sad for the people closest to the camera.  It's just not possible to get flattering angles.
It would help if I didn't eat so many sweet potato fries.

Another item of interest to me?  Wrapping up another excellent year of kid's book club with a family poetry recitation night at the library and a picnic dinner in the park.  Mostly it was the younger kids who recited poems for us to enjoy and they were absolutely adorable.  My heart is full of gratitude for the good people in this picture.

Also, the nice weather.  How glorious the sun and warmth is after a long cold winter.

George the Trash Collector

George's first item of business this morning was creating a jet pack.   Not too shabby.  I particularly like that he used the blue plastic bag that contained the newspaper to tie the 2-liter soda bottles on, because he couldn't find any tape.  I LOVE RESOURCEFUL CHILDREN!  He held it on with a stapled together neck ring.
George is a lot like Clark was as a little person, in that he has a lot of vision to create things out of what many would consider "trash".

George is frequently found collecting things for his projects and his projects regularly fill up the kitchen table.  He is quite the visionary.  Quite the handsome little visionary.

Lunch With Lari

I had the most lovely experience this week.  The beautiful lady on the right was a very close high school friend of my mother's.  Her name is Lari Lybbert Dirkmaat and they went to Olympus High School together, where they reportedly had tons of fun and regularly had to decide whether to "go get ice cream together or commit some heinous crime!"
Shortly after high school they went there separate ways.  She went to the University of Utah and my mom went to BYU where she married my dad and they were off in the military.  Lari also traveled the world and lived abroad, including the Middle East for many years.  Over the years since our mom died, she has sent us notes about our mom and shared pictures she had of her.  I always appreciated it so much when such little messages would arrive.  It was like getting a piece of mom back.

She now lives in North Carolina and was back in Utah to celebrate her mother's 90th birthday.  She offered to take my sister and I to lunch.  I am having trouble finding the words to describe how much good it did my heart to be with her.  It was like being with mom.  She was so much fun.  So, so funny and charismatic.  She had us in stitches many times over.  She told us stories of our mom in high school-- drive by stalkings of the boy she liked.  Putting orange barricade cones on the front lawn of a tall blonde boy whom she liked, but probably didn't know she existed.  She gave us advice in the same spirit our mom would have.  We felt her love for us because she loved our mom.  She told us how she blames her love of skin care products on our Grandma, Beth Clark (my mom's mom), because she was the first one to give her a skin care kit.  How she liked how classy my grandparents were because they collected real art.
Over the years we have missed our mom so much.  It's been sixteen years and while you never get over losing a parent, you do learn to cope.  After a while you get used to the new normal.  You don't hurt all the time.  You adapt, and in some ways, you don't know what your missing.  We've gotten accustomed to life without mom here.  But to be around Lari was a reminder of what we're missing.

 However, it didn't hurt.  It felt good. It made our hearts happy because it felt a little bit like getting to have a lunch with our mom after sixteen years of missing her.
Heavenly Father knows what heartaches we will experience in life, but in his mercy he puts in place tender mercies to ease the pain that is inevitable.  How could my mom have known when she forged this friendship as a teenager, the blessing it would someday be for her daughters?  I'm so happy my mom was the kind of woman who had such an impact on those around her, that after however many years of separation, Lari loved her enough to seek out Brig and I and want to spend time reminiscing her friendship with mom.  You never know how the good you do may come back to bless you.

Beauty and the Beast 2017

Back in 2006, our little family (and my dad) joined the cast of Beauty and the Beast with Bluffdale Arts Council.  I was very great with child, and by the time we performed the play, I was only two weeks away from delivery Faith.  Faith was born just one year after we lost our sweet Tessa, and being a part of the play was a way to occupy my thoughts and time and try to keep my sanity through a very stressful, anxious pregnancy.

Fast forward eleven years, and while we've grown quite a bit, and we weren't all in the play, most of the family enjoyed being a part of the cast for another production of Beauty and the Beast with Bluffdale Arts.

Bethany was a silly girl and the rest of us were lowly villagers.

 Peter was clearly thrilled to be with the beast and Gaston.  We loved the leads in the show-- they were so talented and so nice.

 George found a little lady friend that he hung out with in the backstage gym during the shows.

It's pretty great watching all the kids making up games and forming friendships over the time of intensive dress rehearsals and performance.  Really nice people.

I enjoyed the time spent backstage when the kids were happily playing and we didn't have much to do besides sit and visit.

Bethany was also a tap dancing spoon in the "enchanted" scenes.

Clark and Clark-- Chocolate Clark and Vanilla Clark.
What?... Is that not PC?

The cute, silly girls.  Individually, I'm sure they are all respectable, intelligent young ladies.  But as a group, they were, indeed, very silly.

Faith and Cannon were troopers to endure all the late night rehearsals and performances.

Somebody else was a trooper as well.  I wish we'd figured out some sort of costume for her so I could have just taken her out on stage with me.  She was so happy as long as she was in my arms.

It was fun to get to spend so much time with Abe during the final week.  These shows do take quite a bit of time, but I just love pulling together as a family to be a part of something we enjoy so much.  It's a refreshing change of pace from regular life.

Elinor decided not to do the show, which worked out kind of nicely for us because she was a big help in taking care of little boys during the crazy final week. She did have a speech and debate tournament on the last day of the show.  We were very thankful Grandpa Cannon could take her down and stay and help be a judge for the tournament.  Then they came back and made it to the show for closing night.

Happy Moments

When I firstlooked at this picture I saw four children's faces.  Then I kind of creeped myself out when I saw a fifth head over my shoulder.  I believe I snapped this picture after we had been reading some Harry Potter and it was time to stop.  At which point they literally attacked and climbed all over me begging me to read more.  Family read aloud time is the best part of the day.

Faith and Cannon at their end of year choir concert.
Abe was working later and thanks to poor planning on my part, I ended up taking Peter and Greta with me.
It wasn't a good idea, and it did not work out very well in the end.  Some little people just don't appreciate the fine arts.  Sheesh!
Wiggly, fussy little ones aside, the choir did great and I really enjoyed the musical selections this year.

 Starting them out young.
Let's just take a moment to acknowledge and celebrate that my floor was cleaning enough for a baby to be on.  Go me!

Greta just inherited the most beautiful, detailed, fully furnished, exquisite doll house in the world!
She just can't touch it till she's 8.
My friend moved recently and she passed this treasure along to us.  It was like Christmas morning!  I like George's face as he realizes the grand piano is a music box that actually plays music.

If you're really nice to me I might let you come over and play with my dollhouse.  Seriously, you have to see the detail of the furnishings.  Amazing.  It's way nicer than the house I live in.

Awww, look who we had in our neighborhood the other day.  So cute.  I feel a kinship with this mama duck. 

Another game invention by George.  This one was called "Spikes, Balls and Wheelies".  Clearly the boy is far more intelligent than I am, because I cannot figure out how to play his games.  He gets a little frustrated because "he already explained this to you".  But the games are very complicated and I just don't get it.  And even if I did understand how to play, it's completely impossible to beat him at his own game.  Others have tried.

Abe and Clark did an early morning hike together today.  He brought home a lizard.  Ahh... somethings never change.  I guess I sort of like that kind of constancy in life.

Clark was nice to bring several of his creepy crawlies to a Pack Meeting for our Cub Scouts this past week.  He did a great job entertaining the boys.  Actually, with the exception of a Pine Wood Derby, I've never seen the boys quite so enthralled at a Pack Meeting.

Cannon received his Wolf Rank at the meeting as well.  I always felt a bit of a fraud when Clark gave me a pin for his Cub Scouts, because Abe was really the one who did the work with him.  But I proudly accepted my pin for Cannon because I am his den leader, so I really did have a lot to do with him earning his Wolf badge.

Oh my goodness, I really like this kid.  I do feel badly that he didn't have his Cub Scout shirt on, but he was coming straight from his dance class and I just didn't get that far.
I know, I know... nobody cares but me.  Well, Abe might care a little as well.  And if I'm being honest, I guess I don't really care that much. And I call myself a den mother... shame on me.

A second generation of hole diggers in the backyard.  We are in a magnificent warm spell here in Utah and I can't tell you how good the sunshine and warmer temps feel.
They feel so good, that in my exuberance to get outside on my morning walk this morning, I forgot to put on a very important piece of underclothing.  I felt as free as a bird.  As free as a robin red breast.  Ahem.  No further comment.

A neighborhood pickup game of baseball for Cannon and George and friends.  I'm not the only loving this amazing spring weather.

Grandma Lou and Aunt Bertha.
Appropriate or inappropriate?  You be the judge.
No, you know what?  You don't need to judge.  It's totally inappropriate.  But they do keep me laughing.