Wild Thing

This here is our Wild Thing, our Elsie. Her hair rivals what mine looked like as a kid. My mom called me “Lion Lady” when I was young. Elsie has now taken on the title. 

She’s often busy drawing and painting, even on herself. 

She loves a good playgroup activity, especially when it involves riding a unicorn. 

She’s often seen with another wild thing, an Ian one.

She eats chicken wings and all kinds of things. She loves to run around nakey and dance. 

She can be very civilized at times. 

But most of the time, she’s a wild thing. 

Good Communication

Growing up, I feel like I had good communication with my parents. I’d talk with my mom a lot and when chances arose, I’d talk with my dad too. Some subjects we never touched on because we had no reason too, others probably could have been talked about but we never got there. The truth is, my parents made an effort, and that’s what was important. 

Going out to eat and talking was a frequent activity I did with my mom and siblings during my teenage years. Sitting at the counter or on the porch having discussions with my siblings happened often. At current family dinners, 10 conversations are happening at once and it fills my soul with goodness. I don’t know what it is, but the power of a good talk really recharges me. 

My family likes to talk, Jess will attest to that (ha!), and I think it both stems from our desire and love for the art of conversation but also by the way our parents nourished that art. This I am trying to do with my own little family. 

One such night we started talking about a YouTuber whose channel contained sub-par food reviews. We talked about his delivery, the camera work, his hat choice, which led to us questioning how such a person could have so many subscribers. The conversation wasn’t about anything of huge importance, but everyone was involved (even Elsie was trying!) and we came together on something so we can come together on bigger things in the future. 

I read a quote recently by James E. Faust that read, “Parents spend a lifetime seeking to establish and maintain good communications with each of their children.” This stuck out to me for a couple of reasons, 1) good communication has to be worked on constantly and 2) each child is going to have a different style of communication that parents must come to discover and then nourish. Jess and I talk about these different styles often and sometimes we have to adjust based on behaviors, either those of our child(ren)’s or our’s. 

Hopefully, there is good communication within the family, it will spread to good communication within the community. This is my hope for my children as they grow up and work with others. 

Santa Catalina

To celebrate a big birthday for Jess’s dad, we set off to California. Riding in the shuttle + plane + Uber + boat to get to Catalina Island was half the fun. 

But first, we got to Long Beach a day early and enjoyed some activities. Unbeknownst to me, Long Beach is more of a port city and is not bursting with tourist stuff. 

Still, we found some things to do, like riding in Swan Boats (where we spotted a Great Blue Heron):

and visiting Queen Mary (a boat bigger and faster than the Titanic). 

We also found an old, abandoned shopping area across the street that gave off Disney vibes. Then we happened upon these trees made of styrofoam. Um, what? Apologies if these tree characters haunt your dreams tonight. And apologies if you were really looking forward to going to Long Beach sometime in the future and now you’re not so pumped. 

Back to Catalina, we got on the ferry and arrived. We made our way to the hotel. We had ice cream and seafood. We rented golf carts and enjoyed the sights and sounds of the island. The views were stunning. 

We spent time at the beach too. It was a brisk 65 degrees, but this did not stop the kiddos from enjoying the sand and the sea. 

It was a wonderful time! It was so nice to be with family in such a beautiful spot. One last thing, we like to call what Ian is wearing in the above photo “gym leisure” (he had gym shorts on with this sweater. With this clothing, you can go on a run to get to the nice restaurant where you have reservations. 

Elsie at three

So many good things come from a three year old, Elsie is no exception. 

When something is not matching her timetable, she says, “It’s taking for a long time!”

She loves to comb her baby doll’s hair. 

She can play outside and pretend or ride her scooter (or strider bike) forever, still, she always wants to play with her buddies. 

She loves to paint. 

She calls a piggy back ride a “piggy ride” and elastics for hair “pony elastics.”

She always says she needs three of everything because “I’m three!” Three slices of apple, three pieces of candy, three doughnuts!?!

When she wants me to hold her she says, “Can I hold ya?”

And when she says she’s not tired, she most certainly is. 

Being three takes a lot of energy. 

Easter down south

Easter this year was surrounded by snow, General Conference, and Spring Break. As such, we didn’t have our usual neighborhood Easter Egg hunt, but we still had a few hunts. One was at Grandma’s house. She has the best yard for such a thing. Such fun was being had, so it’s the usually story, no pics. We had another hunt was down in St. George where we spent Spring Break. 

Ian had lots of excitement.

Elsie got all the eggs that cousins passed up. She took the hunt slow while the other kids were running around at high speeds. The excitement was certainly there. And then the kids counted eggs and traded candy, while all the teenagers asked them to share their candy. Ha!

We did some other things during the break. We hiked Gunlock Falls (which was crowded like no other), and had lunch in a wash. 

We swam, paddle boarded, and played tennis. We made food and enjoyed conversation. We relaxed. Ahh! Balm for the soul. 

A week later, we took part in the egg launch. A tradition my brothers came up with many years ago. Here, Elsie gets help from an older cousin. The eggs fly across the field and one of these guys tries to catch one. It’s a lot of fun. 

For many weeks now, I’ve focused a lot on the idea that God and Jesus Christ are the source of peace.  Amongst all the fun, my thoughts continued to circle upon that idea and the celebration of Easter emphasized it for me even more so. 

When you oldest and youngest…

…use the same piece of paper. You get this:

Oliver with math homework and Elsie with some creature doodling. Gotta love it!

Winter birthdays

Ansel had a birthday! He’s in the double digits now. Whoa! How’d we get here? He wanted Legos for his birthday and to eat at Royal India for some delicious curry, tikka masala, and saag. 

Plus, he got a mango lassi this time. All the kids were jealous, but he was willing to share. Good kid. 

Then there was Elsie’s birthday. She’s three! She didn’t really care where she went to eat, she just wanted to know if there would be stickers. Ha! She’s great at getting those three fingers up. 

She blew out the candles with much aplomb. 

This family of mine sure is fun to celebrate with. 

Arches in the cold

It ain’t that bad. In fact, it’s actually quite nice, especially when the weather is sunny and in the 40s. Beautiful scenery, less crowds, and not as much sweat 😉 . 

Here Ansel takes a photo of Jess under the oh so wonderful and iconic Delicate Arch against the snow-capped mountains. We each took turns holding Elsie along the hike, but Jess did the majority of it, including the icy parts (hence the lack of photos. Plus, the icy parts were no joke). I continue to be amazed at this man’s fortitude and strength. 

The group up top enjoying the view. It was a tad bit windy, but look at that blue sky!

We did some other hikes too, near Grandstaff Canyon. This one was 5 miles round trip, and Ian was like a gazelle the whole time. 

Ansel and Oliver were champs too. At one point, Ansel wanted to jump from this rock ledge to the sand. No problem, right?

Everyone was helping Elsie enjoy the hikes. Thanks to great cousins and an aunt and uncle!

It was really something. 

We also headed toward Potash and hiked through the canyon. The kids climbed in what made me think of a red rock honeycomb. 

There were neat spots to stop at, and Elsie just loved playing in the sand. 

We saw petroglyphs too. This was called the birthing stone. See if you can guess why? And those centipede characters, why?

Oliver found a perfect spot to take a rest. 

We had a great time! And with that, it’s another winter hiking trip down south. 

So thankful for my Valentine

So much to say to say about my Valentine. Kind, funny, patient, caring, fun, supportive, present. 

My favorite love song currently, Vance Joy’s “Missing Piece.” So good. I’m so sappy.

Laughter from the kiddos

Laughter is the best medicine. Although this quote can’t be attributed to one person, Proverbs 17:22 is probably the first mention of health being benefit by a merry heart. I also found this interesting, from an article in psychiatric times (who knows if it’s legit, but here I go anyway), it mentions that “ In the 1300s, Henri de Mondeville, a professor of surgery, propagated post-operative therapy with humor.” The article goes onto explain how humor has been used in medicine and therapy for years. Fascinating stuff. 

Anyhow, my life abounds in the funny. I love it. I married Jess because of so many reasons, but one reason was huge - he is hilarious. My kids are hilarious too. Sometimes on purpose and sometimes just because. Case in point:

Oliver and his cousin came up with a poem about people who play music out of a speaker in a backpack while skiing. It’s kind of annoying when people do that, so they came up with a poem where things don’t turn out so well for those guys. It’s about music starting an avalanche. 

I heard the music, it sounded like thunder,

I didn’t realize I’d made a big blunder,

I turned around and I was six feet under. 

Clever guys. 

Ansel was really stressed watching a football game the other night. Before it began, he said he didn’t care who won, but by the end, the kid couldn’t handle that the Buffalo Bills were losing. After the game, I told Ansel he needed to do something to ease the loss. He thought for a few minutes and then came up to me, “Mom,” he said, “do you want to play chess with me? I need to win something.” I had to laugh! And yes, I’m very bad at chess. I just don’t care enough to put the effort in to win. 

Ian had a runny nose and a fever. Jess was explaining to him that that was his body’s way of fighting the disease. “Your body has a virus,” Jess explained, to which Ian responded with a very surprised and shocked, “What!?!?!?!” He had no idea viruses were living on him. 

Elsie requests Weapon of Choice” by Fatboy Slim as I’m prepping dinner nearly every night. Once I turn it in, she climbs up on the work table and dances like Christopher Walken does in the music video. It’s the cutest thing. And if you want to watch a great music video, check it out. 

And this, because I think my siblings are also hilarious. My oldest brother came up with a list of rules everyone should follow for taking care of oneself and following rules of cleanliness and etiquette for Sunday. It comes in rhyme form and is so good. 

Shoes unpolished are shoes demolished. 

Slacks soiled are slacks spoiled. 

Dress shirt, not dress dirt. 

Sunday best, not Sunday messed. 

A visible trace is a risible disgrace. 

Uncombed hair should ever be rare. 

Confidence, not comfort. 

Rumpled suit? Derisive hoot! 

I detest what's not ironed and pressed.

Objectionable breath is the kiss of death. 

Socks of white = socks of shite. 

At least one shower every 24 hours.  

Hoping there is a lot of humor in your life.