Announcement

Coming in August 2014--- Another little Fox baby!

• It's been a little while.  
• George will be four years old. 
• Clark will be 15 years old.  
• I will be 37 years old.  
• We are all very happy and feel very blessed.  
• We do know what causes this.  
• It was not an accident.  
• I have felt pretty crummy.  
• I am going on 14 weeks.  
• We will try to find out if it's a boy or girl-- I'm not much for surprises.  
• We did get a big huge van to haul all our people around in. 
• We don't know if this is the last.

So there you have it.  I haven't been much use to anyone lately as I've been feeling so very tired and sick.  Usually I feel better by this point, but the yuckiness is lingering and I'm not doing such a good job of handling it graciously. 

This development came about in the middle of December.  After a couple of miscarriages over the past year I was thrilled to be expecting again.  I knew it would be tough with a large family to care for and a lot of responsibilities, but I thought I could handle it.

Exactly one week after I learned the good news,  the Bishop (leader of our church congregation) called Abe and I into his office to ask me to serve in a new calling-- the Relief Society President. 
Oh, good heavens!  How is this to be done?  As you might imagine, my head has been spinning for the last two months as I've tried wrap my mind around my new calling.  Coming off of Christmas break and then our trip to Hawaii, I've felt like I have twice as much to do with half has much energy to do it with.  All I can say at this point is that the Lord works in mysterious ways.   As my wise Aunt Carolyn said to me, "Your family must need a lot of blessings!"  So true.

So that's what I've been up to.  Not only have I not had much time or energy for blog writing, but until I felt it was time to announce things, I didn't want to write when I couldn't be raw and real!  So here I am,  being raw and real and sick and gaining weight by the day, but grateful for the chance to be expecting another little spirit into our family.

FIRST Lego League Next Generation

You may remember a few years back when Clark was very heavily involved with a FIRST Lego League team that won the Utah State Championship and ended up going to the World Festival in St. Louis.  Their team name was "Pi Pod".

We are now so happy and celebrating with Elinor and her FIRST Lego League team who won their Regional Championship and went on to compete and win one of the top awards at the Utah State Championship this year.  Their team name is "Team Tau".  It has a clever meaning because three team members are younger siblings of Pi Pod members.  "Tau" is a mathematical term that is Pi squared.  The back of their shirts say "Tau is greater than Pi".  Ha, ha-- a good bit of sibling rivalry.

But then the absolute sweetest moment of the entire championship day was when Team Tau was called up to receive their Project Award for Innovative Solution (for the idea most likely to actually make a difference and come to fruition). Those Pi Pod boys hopped right up to high five Team Tau as they went up on stage.  Here are those boys-- minus Clark who was at a Speech and Debate tournament.

It was a very long, but very enjoyable day spent up at the University of Utah.  Made even more fun because Faith was a part of a Jr. FLL team that showed their stuff that morning at the same location.

Their team name was Robot Masters Disaster Squad.  The overall theme for FLL this year was "Nature's Fury".  R.M.D.S. built a cool motorized avalanche.  They won an award for great team work.

Adrianne Thygerson, who coached Clark's team also coaches both Elinor and Faith's teams.  She is a remarkable, dedicated lady who I am so indebted to for offering these experiences to my children.

Front row is Robot Masters Disaster Squad and back row is Team Tau.  I like how Jake on the front right is wearing an old Pi Pod shirt.  The season is over for both of these teams but Clark's FRC (FIRST Robotics Competition) team is right in the thick of a very intense six week build session.  His team- Prototype X-- meets for roughly 24 hours a week in the basement of the Leonardo Museum dowtown.  I send him off on TRAX around 4:30 and he gets home around 10:30pm.  He is very glad that swimteam season is now over so he will only be burning the candle at one end instead of both ends.
He will compete at the FRC Utah Regionals mid-march and possibly a Las Vegas Regional in April.  Fun times! 
One more fun thing on this very award-winning Saturday (Because it's not obnoxious enough already).  Clark and Bethany were both at a Speech and Debate tournament at the LDS Business College all day.  Bethany participated in an event known as "Sparring".  There is no preparations and you argue either affirmative or negative over rather light-hearted issues.  Out of about 20 participants she won 3rd place.  Clark did Student Congress and won 2nd place.  They were thrilled and we were quite proud of them.

Coming Home

As much fun and relaxation as Abe and I had on our trip to Hawaii, I was more than a little anxious to get home.  I like home and I like my people.

The kids were very well cared for in our absence.  All of them spent the majority of the time at our dear friends and neighbors, the Johansens.  They also homeschool and many of our children do several of the same activities for which we already regularly carpool.  The Johansens offered and although I felt, and still feel, that it was way too much for them to watch so many extra kids for so many days, I am so grateful.  I really could go and enjoy our trip knowing what good hands they were in. 

The same goes for the time that some of the older kids spent with the Flynn and Thygerson families.  All of these friends went above and beyond.  I suppose the real miracle of it is that they are still our friends afterwards!

For me, the trip was about two days too long.  We flew home on a Sunday, but then had to drive home from Las Vegas on Monday.  I understand that George was sitting with Michelle Johansen at church, and while playing with her necklace-- of which I have an identical one--he said, "My other mommy has that necklace too!"  When I got relegated to "my other mommy" I knew it was time to go home.

Abe and I spent a morning at the flea market picking out souvenirs for all the kids.  Knowing how much Abe loves his Hawaiian shirts, you can imagine how happy this image made Abe.

I'm not sure what this picture is about.  Cannon showing off

Hang loose is better than poser-boy.

Just as I feared, the couple of weeks adjustment back to regular life was kind of ugly.  But even still it was so good to be back home and all together again.

The Hawaiian Getaway

Abe and I have safely returned home from a trip to Hawaii he earned for working hard and doing a great job for Winder Farms.  There were a total of 40 people on the trip including employees and their significant others.  We flew out of Las Vegas on Allegiant Airlines.  If you've never flown Allegiant, count yourself fortunate.  Talk about no frills travel- hardly any leg room, the seats do not recline, no complimentary beverages (including water), no inflight entertainment....

Are you feeling sorry for me yet?  No, you really shouldn't.  We got a free trip to Hawaii but had to be uncomfortable for a few hours to get there...  I'll take it!

Here is the Winder crew on the way to the hotel from the airport.

 We ate A LOT.  Here is Abe at Kahuku Grill as per the recommendation of a friend in our neighborhood who grew up there.

Mmmm, Hawaiian Shave Ice at Matsumoto's.  This was the second time we stopped there.

Here we are picking up our malasadas (hot fried doughnut bread) at Leonard's Bakery.  I won't say how many I ate over the course of the trip.

We picked up my adorable cousin from BYU Hawaii and enjoyed more local eats at Seven Brothers in Laie.

Dinner at a sushi and seafood restaurant wasn't exactly my cup of tea.  But everyone else raved about the sushi so I assume it was very good.  And the dinner did lead up to the absolute most hysterical moment of the trip.

Fourteen of us crammed into one elevator at the Marriott hotel to leave the restaurant and we ...uh... we broke the elevator.  We were stuck a couple of feet below ground level and we couldn't get the doors open.  And it was hot and a lot of people just ate a lot of raw fish.  I don't know what that has to do with it, but it just seems grosser.  Eventually our yelling was heard and we were freed.  Since we were in no danger and we knew we'd be rescued it was just really funny.  Especially since Winder's top leadership was with us and it was their idea to quote "Let's all jump"!

We saw sea turtles and Abe and fellow Winder folks swam with them in the ocean.  That is until the turtle conservationist lady thought they were too close and went ballistic on Abe-- who was not actually too close.

  We visited a Japanese Buddhist temple.

And we visited the LDS Temple in Laie.

We watched surfers on the North Shore at the famous Banzai Pipeline.

They have such beautiful trees and plants we just don't see 'round these parts.  I believe this is an Indian Banyan tree.

 One of our very favorite outings in Hawaii is the Polynesian Cultural Center.  You visit several different Polynesian villages and learn about the people, customs, music, and dance.  It is wonderful .

I love the dancing-- especially in the Tahitian village.

When we visited the Maori culture of Aeotearoa (New Zealand) Abe was asked to play the special role of another chief visiting their village.

We've been rather spoiled to get to go to Hawaii several times since we got married-- starting with our honeymoon.  Abe's parents had a timeshare condo on the Big Island of Hawaii for several years and when the kids were little we took them over there a few times.  It was marvelous and we have such fantastic memories of Hawaii with our little kids.  But we hadn't been back, just the two of us-- so this was a second honeymoon for us.

Baby Blessings

Abe here:  I do not post on Betsy's blog very often but tonight I really wanted to.

Here I am with two of my brothers Baden (center) and Philip (right).  We gathered this evening for the Blessing of Henry James Fox, Baden and Mary's newest addition to the wonderfully enormous, extended Fox Family.  I have eight siblings and between the nine of us there are now 53 amazing Fox cousins (with the 54th on the way in January).  I'm so grateful to be a part of this group and be able to participate in tonight's simple, yet beautiful, priesthood ordinance of blessing a new baby.  I LOVE my family!!  Thank you for your goodness, friendship and support.  I LOVE the James and Kathleen Fox Family and I LOVE Baby Blessings!!!

Christmas Morning 2013

We gathered on our bed right around 6:00 AM.

Lining up youngest to oldest for the procession downstairs.

Everybody checking out their haul.

My friend helped me to sew personalized pillow cases for all the kids and they were a BIG hit.  George loved his monster pillow case.

I like Faith's crazy Christmas morning eyes.

Legos ruled the day for Cannon.  Faith got some Friends Legos as well.  At the bottom is the picture book of "What Does the Fox Say?"  Hee hee.

Clark asked for and was granted a high black leather (faux leather) office chair, nice pens, and mechanical pencils.  Everyone's Christmas wishes should be granted-- no matter how geeky they may be!

The nerf girlie bow and arrows were very much appreciated and played with today.

Aliyah had a good morning of princess toys and dress-ups. 
Last night as the candy and fun and lack of sleep started accumulating I made the prediction that within 24 hours at least one child would throw-up. 
I received a text from Matt a few hours ago informing me that sadly, Aliyah was the victim of my prediction.  Sadness.

The Christmas morning remote control car tradition.  They will not last more than a week tops, but they are great fun until the sad moment that they cease functioning.

New scooters all around (except Clark).  When Razor scooters first came out many years ago I thought they were such a silly fad that would die out quickly.  I was totally wrong and my kids have used and abused theirs for years and it was replacement time for the older kids and new ones for the little ones.

Clark got his first cell phone.  The girls were almost as thrilled as he is with this hope they too might get their own phone someday.  The sad/funny thing was Abe had purchased it several weeks back and stored it away in our closet with the rest of the gifts.  One day I was teaching a piano lesson downstairs and Clark was working on school work in my room when the phone started ringing. 
I know we should have turned it off, but we didn't think anyone would call.
He came downstairs asking why this phone was ringing in the closet.  So much for the element of surprise.

Bethany has been one happy camper today.  She got my old, seldom used sewing machine, her own fully stocked sewing basket and sewing lessons to start in the new year.  My good friend and  Bethany's crafting mentor was instrumental in helping me get everything she'll need.  Today she has been sewing headbands for all the girls in our home.

I love Christmas Eve and the wonderful spirit we feel, the anticipation, the joy of being with family, the climax and culmination of the all the excitement of the season. 
But Christmas day is so marvelous; it's like being on drugs (I would assume).  No responsibilities for anyone.  Do anything you like.  Oh, you're bored with your toy?  Go get another one!  Oh, you're hungry?  Go get your bag of chips or your box of sugar cereal that Santa brought you.  You want to play a video game?  Play until your eyes start twitching.  You don't want to get dressed?  I don't blame you-- I don't get dressed on Christmas Day either.
It's almost 8:30pm right now and I am sad that the day is coming to an end.  I am in heaven.
Good thing tomorrow will be more of the same.  Although I will get dressed. 

Elinor got Seasons 1 and 2 of Studio C- super clean comedy sketches that our family adores.  We've been cracking up all day.

Faith and Aliyah enjoyed this cool building structure toy.

Georgie and I playing with his Thomas trains.

Allison stayed the night with us, but Barbara came very early this morning to watch the kids open presents.

A little Just Dance for Misty to show off her Hot Mama moves! 

Matt and Misty took off to go visit her family in Southern Utah and Allison headed off to be with her family so we were left with just our family to enjoy Abe's British Fried Breakfast.  We loved having a full house, and we loved being together with just our family for the rest of the day.

He's been making this breakfast every Christmas Day since 1996.  And the great thing about eating this meal is you don't have to eat for another 36 hours.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a goodnight!