Happenings

Fall is a busy time of year especially in the yard and the garden. I have tomatoes and zucchinis coming out my ears...I've made zucchini bread, zucchini casserole and plan to make zucchini linguini and zucchini cake and then I will freeze the rest to use in my lasagna and minestrone soup.



Yesterday was my day to get a few things done for myself. I went mountain biking with Rosie. We rode up the canyon near the temple. The leaves are starting to change and there was that lagging Fall heat that will only be around for another few weeks. Needless to say, I realized two things while biking. One, I was reminded how much I enjoy the sport and secondly, how out of shape I am. I was ready to toss my cookies after about 1/2 mile up the mountain. Lucky for me, Rosie didn't mention to me until later that she use to compete in mountain bike races, also lucky for me, she is a great friend and was so patient with my meager efforts...but I have to say, the experience has definitely motivated me to get in better shape...someday I will be riding like I use to.

On another note, I found a few things yesterday while out in the yard that made me laugh. First, one section of our backyard is really over grown with weeds...I see this area out the kitchen window several times a day and it's more than annoying to me; however, my time outside in the evenings when it has cooled off hasn't happened too often this summer with a newborn and so those pesky, too-tall weeds grew to be three and four feet tall and camoflauged themselves between the bushes and trees that are suppose to be there...well, yesterday I had had enough and so those weeds came out. While I was digging in one of the flowerbeds I started smelling something really disgusting and much to my horror, right there by my shovel was a dead and decaying mouse...ugh...after the initial shock I buried him...he is the second of two animals I have buried this week. The other was a pigeon that must have flown into one of our windows...hopefully, there will not be any others this week.

I also discovered that those rotten squirrels that vex our yard have been taste testing my prize tomatoes. Off and on I have noticed a few bites out of my tomatoes but yesterday there was more proof that they are indeed still hiding somewhere in our yard...there were three tomatoes in my waterfall (not placed there by Maggie and Sam) and to top it off, they have also been chewing our hammock to shreds, rather Brian's hammock to shreds.

And lastly, the scrub oaks in our yard have started to realize it is Fall and are graciously dropping their acorns which in turn always means more work for us in having to pick them up before they root and become little trees with deep roots. Last year I filled an entire glass hurricane with acorns only to find out after a few days that the acorns were home to white grubs that had somehow found their way out of the hurricane and onto my kitchen counter. You can probably guess that I won't be decorating with real acorns this year.

Projects

We've been busy with a few projects around here...I finally got the courage to paint part of my kitchen...there were some growing pains involved and I ended up repainting a little bit after the painters left, but I am pretty happy with the finished product.

Before:

After:


Before: This west facing door bakes in the sun and needed a little doctoring up. Brian told me I have given a new meaning to Labor Day.:)

After:


And in a previous post, I mentioned that I went hunting for accessories, well, check out the lamp I found. It just happened to match my mirror perfectly.

I also found some accessories for above my kitchen cabinets...that is a tricky space for me, it is narrow, so I can't put anything bulky or too tall up there, but it needs to be tall enough to show over the edge and I absolutely will not do ivy.

A Miracle

It is a miracle...! I finally found a babysitter who is going to help me out once a week for a few hours with the kids. I've been going over in my mind all the things I will be able to do again: exercising, library time for me, shopping, time at the temple, time for the developing of talents etc. etc...the list is endless... I also went through a week of feeling guilty that I was leaving them for a few hours...I don't think that guilt will ever go away, I am a mother, my responsibility is my children and to be there for them and yet I am also a woman and an individual who needs time for self...that balancing act is a tricky one.

Today was a good day. I went and got a pedicure and started reading the "MockingJay" and then I went looking for some decorating accessories. When I am with the kids, I can't make decisions because I am always too distracted and because I am indecisive anyway, adding kids to the mix isn't a good combination...so I ended up coming home with a few fun things instead of just thinking about it and then leaving the store in frustration because I didn't have the wits about me to decide. I even found Halloween costumes for Maggie and Sam. Last year, I procrastinated the costumes and the stores were out of all the needed sizes by the time I got around to ordering...I learned my lesson on that one. So, what are Maggie and Sam going to be for Halloween? Well, you'll have to wait and see.

Temporarily Happy.

What do you do with a fussy, teething, baby girl?

Hold her, feed her, nurse her, hold her some more and just try to make her happy.

How do you sleep with a fussy, teething, baby girl?

You don't.

Labor Day

For Labor Day, I really wanted to get away and camp...and I guess so did everyone else because there wasn't a campground space left in the entire state of Utah so after packing and unpacking food for the trip, we repacked dinner and drove up to Silver Lake in American Fork Canyon for a nature hike and some fishing. The hike was pristine and beautiful, there was a small stream flowing down the mountain, rolling over boulders, so the kids did a little boulder hopping, a little log balancing, flower picking, and rock throwing. I remember thinking along the trail that Maggie and Sam are finally at that age where they enjoy the challenge of the hike...hallelujah!! After the hike, the fish were jumping, eating the flies off the top of the water, so Brian and the kids tried their luck at catching one or two...unfortunately, Brian's tackle box had every kind of bait but the flies that we needed...we would have had better luck with a net and some waders...but it was fun all the same, just being together and seeing the kids with that innocent hope in their eyes that maybe, just maybe, they might get lucky and catch one of those brown trout.

First Days

As the song puts it, yes, we are "Back in the Saddle Again"...with the start of school also came cooler mornings, it happened over night and with the new school clothes and shoes came the new jackets as well.

I made a first day of school cake for the kids and Sam was more then happy to donate one of his school buses for the cake topper.

Maggie started the big 3rd grade...she was ready and excited and is liking her teacher, Mr. K. There will be times tables and division and the homework, dance, soccer, piano lesson, balancing act, and there have already been a few tantrums, but we are slowly working into this new routine. I barely got a hug and kiss out of her before she jumped in the car with Brian for the ride to school.

Sam started Kindergarten on Monday...I cried a little after I dropped him off. He was already making friends and spreading his charm even before I walked away...I could barely give him a kiss on the cheek... how could I keep him home when he was so ready to go.

And then there is little Sadie who keeps me company at home...she started rolling over the week before she turned 6 months and she is determined to stand and prefers it to sitting. She greets everyone with smiles and puts out her hand to touch their cheeks, her gentle way of saying "hello"...and there she is now crying in her crib because she doesn't want to take her morning nap.

The best

The best kind of camping with a newborn...in the backyard. We set up the movie projecter on an outside wall and watched Diary of a Wimpy Kid. I found myself laughing a lot. There is something about that movie that really captures some truth about those "junior high years". Then we all fell fast asleep under the stars with the crickets chirping their own kind of lullaby. Maggie and Sam slept like logs and have designated this as a family tradition.

The Eve of Summer

There's nothing like a peaceful walk in a beautiful garden. We ventured out a few evenings ago, a last minute sort of thing. There was so much beauty to breathe in, so much to see, so little time before the summer sun melted into the edge of the sky.

Maggie fished a floating dragonfly out of the fountain...to our surprise, it was still alive. Brian and the kids helped to dry its wings in hopes that it would fly again, but the drying of wings takes awhile and so we found a safe place for the dragonfly to rest and we'll check on it next time we venture out into the garden.

Goals

I started writing another post a few days ago and got interrupted several times and then completely distracted. I've had a great summer with the kids and although I wish it were longer, I do look forward to having a schedule again. Consistent house cleaning has fallen off my radar this summer as well as well-thought-out meals and all those projects, well, they're on the back burner along with time for self. I haven't done a to-do list and I really don't remember when the last time was that I went grocery shopping...and I've realized that although these things are important they are not my top priority when my kids are home.

Rather then a To-Do list, I've resorted to accomplishing one or two goals a day. One day last week it was cleaning the bathrooms, the next day was making zucchini bread, another day was to finish putting up Sam's vinyl wall decals, check, check, check. If I focus on one thing, my duties seem much more manageable then my regular and often overwhelming To-Do list.

I have always appreciated some little bit of golden advice that my Grandma Mary gave me. She told me that if you keep putting off what you want to do because of what you should be doing, you will never do what you want to do. We were talking about her painting at the time, but I've used her wise advice in many aspects and with my daily goal setting. The house will still be dirty tomorrow, the dust and the vacumning won't go away, but at least there will be time for the developing of talents that so often get thrown along the wayside. My Grandma Mary had ten children and she was a delivery room nurse...her house was never immaculate, but she always found time for sewing and painting and she was always reading a good book.

Maggie and Sam are playing with friends and Sadie is sleeping......there is a number of chores around the house I should be doing, but in honor of my Grandma I will sit down to write...why? because, all of those cumbersome chores can wait.

Definitely a Recap

This is a long one. I am in denial that this summer of ours is quickly coming to an end...the kids have two weeks left until the "s" word begins, yes I am talking about "school", just in case you were wondering. Obviously, I have been really bad at keeping up with the blog, sorry for those of you who have checked and rechecked for the last 2 months, I will try to do better, and I apologize.

I've been trying to think of all that has transpired for us over the past few months. The kids are two months older, wiser and taller, their pants are floods, their shoes too small and their socks...well, I realized that I should be finally be buying them some larger socks when I did a sock load and found myself folding 3T-4T socks for both Maggie and Sam...oops. I keep pushing them down and they keep bouncing back taller and taller. Lately, I've been overly emotional about my kids getting older, the thought makes me really sad and time continues to fly by so fast.

At the beginning of the summer I was really nervous about being at home more so Sadie can nap and I was fearful that the TV would be on all the time while I was nursing...but Maggie and Sam have risen to the occasion(s) and have really played a lot... used their grand imaginations and created all sorts of pretend worlds from a fort under my kitchen table to a basement lair using cardboard boxes and rolls of tape...they have been making masks and computers and robots all out of paper, I don't follow their trail of crumbs, I follow their trails of tape...I've enjoyed seeing them play together and use their powers of creativity and imagination. We've enjoyed our yard, the kids are always eager to see what our garden boxes are producing and they are pretty good at picking the veggies, definitely Maggie's favorite summer job.

In June, Brian and I celebrated our 10 years together. We dined up at Log Haven where we had our wedding luncheon...it was romantic and being there brought back so many memories. The time has flown by and yet when I reflect in how we've changed and in how the circumstances, adventures, trials and joys of life have come to us and how we've experienced so much together in just a short ten years, I can't imagine what the next ten years will bring to us. Brian truly is my calm amidst the storms of life. He has always been my sure and steady. We have changed, but we have done it together. My Grandma Leone told me once that when you are newly married, you think you know what love is, but as you grow older in your marriage, you find yourself loving that person more and more each day, with more depth and more meaning...I didn't understand then, but I do now.

In July, Maggie and Sam did a week soccer camp and they started and completed a month of swimming lessons. Both of them are fish in the water. We were able to see some of our friends we knew in Half Moon Bay, the Corkills and the Ogdens and it was so fun catching up and letting the kids play, just like old times. In July I also celebrated my birthday with a barbecue, fireworks, family and friends, it was an enjoyable birthday. A week later, I celebrated again, when my birthday present came, a new mountain bike, so that I can start riding in those nearby mountains with Brian and my Dad...I am really looking forward to getting back on the bike. During Draper Days, Brian set a record and pulled all three of the kids in the bike trailer down to the parade...it was a little chaotic on the way home.

Last Friday we took our summer vacation and took the kids to Disneyland. I am not sure we were thinking clearly when we bought a 6-day pass and I was full of anxiety before the trip, worried mostly about Sadie and how we were going to pull off the trip with her naps, she is a baby that likes her crib...but needless to say, everything worked out well. Sadie had a ball and really adjusted to the go, go, go schedule. She slept most often in Brian's arms, a few times in the stroller or BabyBjorn. The best item we took on the trip was the stroller that Maggie and Sam used equally as much as Sadie, if not more. The stroller offered the kids a restful oasis when the walk or the sun was just too much for them. We took a lot of breaks in the shade, smuggled in lunch three times (and we weren't the only ones). We rode every ride in Disneyland and saw every show. Maggie's favorite ride was Thundermountain Railroad, and Sam's was a toss-up between Woody's Wild Ride and Buzz Light Year...I think Sam really enjoyed the Haunted House as well. When I took him through a third time, he narrated the entire ride for me. Sadie found Pirates quite interesting and she loved Winnie the Pooh. She also really enjoyed the baby care rooms that the parks offered and her frequent diaper changes there. She was a trooper and rewarded us with six nights of straight sleep, probably because we exhausted her during the day. We took a break midway through the trip and headed to Huntington Beach where we watched a men's pro-surf competition and the kids played in the waves. We had such a great trip that it has taken all of us four days to recover afterward!

Sadie is such an easy-going baby. The trip helped her learn how to chill and roll with things better than before. She is approaching her six-month mark which again, I just can't believe. She has started eating baby cereal and veggies and got a few licks off of a frozen banana at Disneyland, which she loved. Tonight, I gave her an ounce of formula in a bottle just to see if she would take a bottle, she hasn't really been given one since week one or two, and to my surprise she guzzled down the rest of the formula and then I got jealous and nursed her to sleep. Boy, she surprises me everyday with her milestones. She is a happy baby and has brought so much joy to us in her smiles and her coos and her little hugs and kisses (slobber kisses) that is. How grateful I am to have a little one at home again...it is still strange to me. There will always be that empty space in our family between Sam and Sadie, where Caleb should have been...and even now I don't think a family photo will ever truly feel complete, because he is not with us here, right now...and there are still waves of longing for him that hit me when I least expect them to and yet, I am grateful for those times and moments.

And so, this post is coming to an end...the entry resembles more of what you'd find in my journal (not as personal) but more my style of writing...for a long time I've kept things short and probably will continue to do that...I always debate what should be shared on such a public forum...I wonder who is reading this if anyone at all most of the time and if I should just make this blog private for my own enjoyment and therapy:)...not sure the answer to that although if I do decide to open myself up more, I will password protect the blog. Let me know what you think and enjoy some of my favorite photos of our summer below.

Summer Photos

Celebrate!

Summer has always been magical for me...the long, lazy days, the warm summer nights, running barefoot through the cool grass, hearing the crickets chirp, counting the stars, being free...I love the nostalgia of Summer...it is definitely something to celebrate...so I threw together a little 'Last Day of School Party' and Oh what fun we had!

Let the drool begin

3 Months.

Finding her hands, and sucking them.
Reaching and Grabbing
Drooling
Sleeping through the night (a few times a week)
Rubbing a bald spot on the back of her head
and just spoiling us with all those smiles.

Memorial Day

The day before Sadie was born in February, we visited Caleb's grave. At that point in time, Sadie and Caleb were together in heaven, looking down at their earthly family. I didn't know Sadie would be coming early the next morning, but looking back, I would like to think that Caleb sent Sadie to us after visiting his graveside that cool Sunday and that that was the last thing we needed to do as a family before Sadie came to us.

On Memorial Day we again visited Caleb's graveside. This was the first time we have celebrated Memorial Day in Utah. This time, Sadie was with us. I couldn't help but think of the tender mercies that Heavenly Father has given to me and my family. For allowing us those beautiful 3 months, 3 weeks with our sweet Caleb, and then for sending us our little Sadie, who has helped us again to reflect upon and appreciate those early weeks with Caleb. How grateful I am for my children, for Maggie and Sam who were born first so that they could have each other, for Caleb who came and stayed for awhile even though it was hard, and for Sadie who has brought the sweetness of heaven with her, another tender mercy of a loving Heavenly Father. How grateful I am for the knowledge and reality of eternal families.

Over the past few weeks, I've been reminded of some things about Caleb that I have forgotten with the passing of time. My perspective was enlightened and some of the difficulty I've had at visiting his graveside in terms of the memories of his death and passing have been swallowed up in the firm and lasting hope that our Savior offers us.

Catching Up

I've have some catching up to do.

Easter has come and gone,
Sam turned the Big #5,
Maggie mastered her two-wheel beach cruiser bike without training wheels
(it really happened over night) and is zipping around,
Sadie is 10 weeks old, is sleeping 4 and 5 and 6 hour stretches depending on the night
And she is smiling and cooing and especially likes telling me about her bathtime, which she loves.
She always perks up when Brian gets home, he seems to melt her fussiness away, and then it's all smiles as he holds her and rocks her...and when he swadles her, she knows it's sleepy time.