The Joy of Pumpkin Chocolate Chip Cookies

Greta is almost 3 months old and beginning to settle into a little more of a schedule.  A little.
I'm not very good at getting a baby onto a schedule-- you'd think I'd have learned to do that by now.

This isn't the most exciting thing that happened to me this week, but it was the most pleasant.
Pumpkin chocolate chip cookies.  And I mean A LOT of them.  I made three batches this week-- the first was a double batch.  The second was a triple batch.  And I kid you not, yesterday I made a quadruple batch.
We shared a little (and I do mean a little).  But mostly we consumed them all.  It was self-medication.  We've had a run of bad news lately from people we love and pumpkin chocolate chip cookies brought a few moments relief.  And there is vegetable in them.  Still, this pattern cannot continue.

I loathe spiders.  LOATHE.
But even I must admit these ping-pong ball spiders Bethany and Faith made are pretty cute.  However, I still feel uncomfortable when I see them around the house.

Little Greta all bundled up and read for our morning walk on Saturday.

I loved this image of Faith reading her morning paper and drinking her hot chocolate.

I hope that all of my children are happily married someday.  But I do live in fear of something.
I fear that my future sons- and daughter-in-laws will be upset with me for not having done a better job of teaching my children to keep their rooms tidy (or whatever else I'm failing at).
Exhibit A:  Faith's bed
She calls this horrific pile of clothing on her bed "The Pile of Peace".
I think the name come from keeping the peace by throwing all her clothing on her bed, rather than the floor of her and Bethany's shared room.  This keeps he peace with Bethany.
I'm apologizing in advance to my children's future spouses.  I do try, but maybe not hard enough.

For someone with as many eating and food issues at Peter has, he was quite the fan of the these super spicy tortilla chips and salsa.  Go figure.

Here is Peter with he favorite person in the world-- Meghan-- his speech therapist.  She comes to our house a couple times a month and Peter anxiously awaits her arrival by running to the window to look for her.

George loves to climb trees.  He loves to ride his bike.  He loves to play soccer.  He loves to move his body.

 The boys came with me to cheer Faith on at her cross country meet last week.  Clark has a pretty busy schedule, so I really appreciated him coming with me and helping with the little kids.  Plus, he doesn't have that much time left at home, so I enjoyed the time with him.

I love how little kids eat apples.  It's the same idea with corn on the cob.

It's been a rough month with bad news about loved ones-- more on that on another post.  I had a hard time regulating my emotions this past week (hence the pumpkin chocolate chip cookies).  Life has so many wonderful good part.  And then there are the downright awful parts-- I guess it's that "opposition in all things" thing.  Even so, my heart feels heavy.

In really good news, Bethany worked her little tail off early in the morning and late at night and did very well in her seating auditions for her orchestra.  She got 11th chair out of 19 violins.  She was thrilled and we were so happy to see all her hard work pay off for her.

Welcome October

Doesn't that look like fun? 
This was taken this evening at a family dinner with a couple of my siblings and my parents.  We spent the weekend being richly fed with General Conference.  Is there anything more glorious than Conference weekend in October?  I think not.

You know what wasn't much fun?  A basement flood the morning after we arrived home.  Our neighbor's secondary water control valve thing-a-ma-jig got messed up and flowed freely to fill our basement window wells and spill in through Clark's basement window. 
Honestly, it was a pain, but no real harm done.  Frankly, we don't own much (if anything) of value downstairs.  We dried things out with a couple of fans and the neighbors arranged to shampoo our rugs and carpet remnants. 
And in good news... it did force Clark to clean out his room.  I'd been after him for a while to do that, albeit unsuccessfuly.  If it takes a flood, then I'll take it!

Elinor, Cannon, and Faith were super helpers in bailing out the window wells.  So much for getting back into school our first day back.  Oh well, life happens.

Friday evening we went to a mission reunion for Abe's England, London mission.  His mission president and his wife-- President and Sister Steele are such kind, loving people.  As Clark approaches mission age, I am praying he will have a mission president whom he loves and respects as much as Abe does the Steeles.

Even I, who wasn't in the mission and didn't even serve a mission, was moved to tears by their loving words.

Our FIRST Lego League team was back at it this week and our mentors took a wack at the team building activity.

My chuckle moment of the week is when I came home from running and errand and George came out to ask me if his face looked like this dinosaur... because the kids said it did.  

Homeschool bullying.

For Young Women's this week Bethany's class had a chalk fight.   I LOATHE chalk dust, so I don't know that I can think of a more disturbing way to spend an evening.  Well, I probably could think of something worse, but chalk dust all over my body makes me cringe with disgust.

  Oh, the HORROR!

Greta is a good break from school work and Elinor is wonderful helper with Greta.

Faith had her first of three cross country meets this past Thursday.  Without boring you with the details, she caught a ride with neighbors to get their in time.  I thought I could make it in time for her race, but I didn't.  

Sadly, I drove 40 minutes in traffic to arrive just after she finished.  At least she knows we tried.  And we tried really hard.

Fortunately, the Johansens were there cheering her one.  Kara, whom Faith adores is one of the coaches.  Faith has really enjoyed it thus far.  I'll have to plan things better next time so I can see her race.

Spokane Family Time

Why not start out with a picture of Greta?  She's awesome.

This is not a current drawing-- rather it was found in a box we were recently going through.  This drawing was done by Abe during a Sacrament meeting when I was pregnant with Peter-- so probably early 2014.   For years Abe has drawn family pictures during church when little kids get squirmy.  I wish I'd kept them all.  He always draws our little angel Tessa.  Family is where it's at!

And speaking of family, this amazing picture was taken on the grounds of the Spokane Temple immediately following the luncheon that followed the funeral.  I love it and can hardly believe we get to associate with these beautiful people forever.

Later that same evening, we went with a few of Abe's siblings to the exact spot on the golf course where his dad passed away.  I found this to be extremely comforting and sweet and peaceful.  It was beautiful and it made me happy to know he was doing something he enjoyed so much when he quickly passed away.

These teenage beauties love to be together.

The final gathering was a siblings and spouses night out to dinner.  Mostly the siblings just told great stories all evening about their dad.  Somewhat irreverent, but very entertaining.

Our kids had such fun with cousins and Jesse and Amy are too kind as hosts.  We are a big family and I know it's not easy to host for several days.  I'm sure their house felt very spacious and quiet after we left.

Here are a few more shots of family at the viewing.  Remind me to talk to my children about a viewing not being the time for funny pictures.  From left to right we have Cannon, John, Samuel, William, James, and Calvin.

Katie, Emmalyn, Priscilla, and McKenna.

Annie, Abby, Elinor, and Gentri

After church on Sunday, but before the viewing we had a family lunch at a local park.

Uncle William and Aunt Marilyn are on Abe's mom's side, but they came up from Vernal for the funeral.  They are wonderful and Uncle William was quite a natural "Grandpa" for Greta.

Roughly 8 years ago there were 8 Fox grand babies born in about 13 months.  This past weekend we recreated this fantastic picture. 

 All those cute babies growing up fast!  Hopefully, we moms aren't too much worse for the wear!

The siblings with their beloved mom. The weekend was sad and happy at the same time.  It was very emotionally draining and yet satisfying.  We came home exhausted, but ready to try harder and live better.  It is surreal that he is no longer living here on earth, but we still feel him close. 

Grandpa and Greta

At 10:00 this morning Abe and his six brothers and his mother went to the mortuary to dress their father's body for burial.
At 11:45 this morning, my girls and I got Greta dressed in her blessing dress.

And that's life.  There is much celebrating and rejoicing when we welcome new spirits into our lives.  There is sorrow and grieving when we say goodbye to those we love so well.  That is as it should be.

We were planning to bless Greta in our home ward in October, but we changed plans when we realized we could do it up in Spokane with the entire Fox family (minus one missionary in the Dominican Republic).  

Our wonderful friend Barbara crocheted Greta's dress.  I loved it so much.  Greta was a perfect little angel and Abe gave a most beautiful blessing.  I've said it before, but baby blessing days are among my absolute favorite days of my life, and this was no exception.  Rather, laced with the sadness of the last week, it has been even more tender and special and memorable.

She is joy.

She is a gift to our family from a loving Heavenly Father.  

A baby is such a comfort during sad times.

It sometimes catches me off guard when I see a picture of our whole family.  First of all because we aren't just a family of little kids-- there are a lot of big people now!

And secondly because there are so many of us!  That might not make sense-- I gave birth to them... how would I not realize how many of us there are?

I suppose I know each person in our family so well-- as individuals, that I don't see our kids as just a big group of people.  I know Clark, and I know Bethany.  I know Elinor, and Faith.  I know Cannon, George, and Peter.  So when I see them all grouped together, I realize, WOW! that is a lot of people.

To me, that explains why Grandpa Fox loved so many people so well.  We weren't just a big group, we were individuals that he knew personally.

Stuart, our patient photographer humored us as we did outdoor and indoor pictures.

When Abe returned to his seat after giving Greta the blessing, he was very emotional.  He expressed his gratitude for his father, in that, without his parents' love of their grandchildren, we might not have had as many children as we do.  We never felt pressured to have a large family, but they did teach us the joy of family.  They showed us there was no greater joy in their life than their children.  They genuinely celebrated announcements of pregnancies and births.  They wept with us when we lost a baby.  Grandpa Fox called me up in the days following Greta's birth saying he'd been thinking about me and he just wanted to express his happiness and joy that she was here. He was practically gushing!  It meant so much to me that this man who already had 56 other grandchildren would have such enthusiasm for our ninth baby.   

Grandpa never got to meet Greta in this world.  He was planning a trip down to Utah for a planned blessing in October.  I have no worries on that count-- they'll have the eternities to get to know one another, where love will not be diminished-- rather exponentially magnified.  He will have influence from beyond the grave and this great patriarch will bless his family from the other side.

For days like today, when the veil is so thin, you can just about reach through and touch those you've loved and temporarily lost, I am grateful.

For the love of eternal families, I am grateful.

For the priesthood power to bless our lives from the beginning to the end, I am grateful.

For the gospel of Jesus Christ that makes it all possible, I am grateful.

The Bitter and the Sweet

We left early Friday morning to head up to Spokane for Abe's Dad's funeral.  Our hearts were heavy, and yet we love going to Spokane, and we love to go on long car rides together.
On the way up we stopped at BYU Idaho in Rexburg for a campus tour.  Here are the little kids living it up in the back of the golf cart.

After an early morning and then a long-ish tour, Peter was exhausted.  He fell asleep while munching his gold fishies.

And then gravity won and the bag of gold fish dropped to the floor.

Over the course of a couple of days, 7 Fox families were making their way to Spokane from out of state.  It was so fun to unexpectedly meet up with a carload of cousins at a rest stop in Montana!

Most of the families are staying at a local hotel, but we're the lucky ones to enjoy the hospitality of Jesse and Amy's family.  The cousins, old and young were so happy to be reunited.

We didn't come up at the end of July for the family reunion because Greta was just barely born.  It felt very good to be with family again.

We took it easy Saturday morning and then we headed up the hill to see Grandma and have a family lunch.

Within five minutes this had happened.

I suppose he has a gift.

Grrr.

I don't want to talk about it. 

I will only say that when the boy leaves on his mission, we will not keep his reptilian friends while he is away.  I feel strongly that we should not add any creepy crawlies to his collection.

Oh, the happy gathering it was.  The hugs and love expressed all around.  I do not believe our joy and happiness take anything away from the somber reason for the gathering.  I feel quite certain that Grandpa was able to see us and he thoroughly enjoyed watching his posterity love one another as we delighted in the gospel plan that seals us all together forever. 

Grandma Fox and Greta meet for the first time and share a moment together.

The grandchildren practiced their musical number for the funeral.  They will be singing "I Love to See the Temple" and "I Am a Child of God".  So angelic.

How we love to be together and talk and laugh.  Grandpa loved to be in the thick of it-- laughing at the embellished stories! 

... and it has been passed down to the next generation.

One of the great things about having 57 grandchildren, the oldest only being in her early twenties, is that almost everyone has several cousins very close in age.  This grouping of Everett, Elinor, Gentri, and Annie is usually found together.

Grandma was busy most of the day talking with her children about funeral plans.  She seems to be holding up pretty well, all things considered.

The oldest daughter with the oldest grand-daughter, who is expecting the second great grandchild.

Faith photo-bombed George's photo-bomb.  Well done, Faith.

Beautiful Ruth had the magic touch with her cousin, Greta.

Even in sad times, there are perks to going to Grandma's house.  A giant tub of cheese puffs not being the least of them.

The beautiful ladies of the Stuart and Tiffany Fox family.

Most of us went together to the General Women's meeting of General Conference.  It was so, so good.  So uplifting.  

Just for fun.

I would like it to be known that I made my face on purpose.  That is not my regular face. 

That's all.

Abe and his brother Jesse met up with several of his cousins on the Fox side late that evening.  He hasn't seen some of them for many years and it did his heart good to reconnect.

Much of the teen crowd crashed a double stake barn dance in the area.  they had a marvelous time and couldn't be dragged home until past midnight.

There are things in this world I wish I could bottle up and save.  There are lots of things about this picture I'd like to keep just how they are.