Spelling

From Ian this morning - “Mom, this is how you spell Elsie: E I A N.”

Reminders

I’m not sure why I often have to remind myself that I cannot force a child to be something he/she is not. Let kids be themselves. My children are not me and they will do things in different ways. That’s okay! Almost fun to watch. I can encourage, support, guide. Kids are amazing individuals with awesome potential and as a parent I am their  cheerleader and teacher, assistant and listener, the individual with unfailing love.

I’ve learned that people will forget what you said, people will forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them feel. Maya Angelou

Somewhere along the line I figured out, the only thing really, I think, a parent can do is say I love you, there’s nothing you can do wrong, you cannot hurt my feelings, I hope you will forgive me on occasion, and what do you need me to do? You offer up that to them. I will do anything I possibly can to keep you safe. That’s it. Offer that up and then just love them. Tom Hanks

If your kids grow up in a home where they are loved and supported and encouraged to live their dreams, that will make the difference. Gabrielle Blair

If you don’t know who you are, that is, a child of God, then you don’t live up to your potential and you don’t focus on where you are going. A neighbor friend of mine

Which leads me to what’s the most important thing I can teach a child - that they are a loved child of God. I must remember that about myself then go forth and do my best at parenting. 

Right now - May edition

I have lots of photos on my phone of this cute face. 

With these cute people. 

She’s just a delightful babe. 

We also have some pics of life around these parts, going into month three of Covid-19 safety measures. 

Cousin zoom meetings. 

Watermelon faces. 

Drive-by wedding receptions. 

Swing set joy. 

Abbey Road look-a-likes. Ian did this all on his own. 

Ducklings crossing through the yard. 

Nice hikes. 

Maze ball completion. 

Mother’s Day visits. 

Good sleep sessions. 

There’s something about this slowing down that I’m enjoying quite a bit. 

Front Porch Photos

We jumped on the bandwagon and joined the front porch photo movement.  Cheers to supporting local! As a family, we have only had our photos taken twice, and with a new member of the family, I thought we'd better make it thrice. Front porch photos are our family's style: a photos session for 10 minutes, 15 photos, 35 dollars. Yes! Some of my friends mentioned that this would be the last way they'd want to do family photos. I get that, but for us, it worked. Or maybe it didn't. You be the judge.

Sure, it would have been great to have the lawn mowed, the peonies blooming, and the water key and sprinkler box assembled (the sprinkler guy had been there 5 minutes previous). But c'est la vie!

Salt Flats

I have a brother who absolutely loves the Salt Flats in the western part of Utah. He has driven his car on the flats at 100+ mph. He has taken his family there numerous times. In fact, one of his family’s Christmas cards featured them there. As a result, I’ve always wanted to visit. So we ventured out. 

It was bright, flat, salty, other worldly, fantastic, expansive, wow! We took some pics. 

Ansel runs to the mountain. 

Ollie tried some optical illusion shots.

Jess takes a shot of the group. It was so so bright, Elsie wasn’t loving it. Lots of baby blinks during this trip. 


We ran around and then had some snacks. 

It takes about 1 hour 45 minutes to get there from our place and we spent about an hour and a half there. The kids were troopers, but the long drive took its toll.

 “On a scale of 1-10, what would you rate this experience?” we asked. 

6 for Ollie

4.5 for Ansel

Let’s go home from Ian

6.5/7 from Jess and Ash

Quite the place, really. I commented to Jess that I was imagining we’d do more there, to which he replied, “We’ll, it’s salt and it’s flat. But it’s like no other place I’ve ever seen.” And with that I felt better about visiting.