A Lot Can Happen In Four Plus Years

So it turns out life gets a little busy when you have 5 children ages 17 - 7.  

A week goes by and you wonder where the time went.

Suddenly it's been a year and then two and well, here we are, four plus years, no posts and no semblance of family activities recorded.

I know it's been over 4 years because the kids are now 22-12 years old.

H- is at the U of U and will be graduating in May
J- is served an LDS mission in Sweden, and is now attending college at Utah State Univ.
Sp- is getting ready to graduate from high school,
S-was a 9th grade class officer  and is finishing up Junior High and
R- is in 6th grade and pre-pointe in ballet.

Crazy how life does that.

Over the past month the kids have rediscovered this blog and how it was kind of a family history of sorts for a few years. It's been fun to see them rediscover some of our daily activities and some of the funny experiences we had together. It's got me to thinking that I really should keep going if only to help them and me remember how good we have it together.

So here we go.
It needs to be noted that there are a lot of pictures I don't have access to right now. We had a computer crash and I need to take it in to have info and pictures retrieved and going back to cover everything for the past 4+ years feels overwhelming, so I think I'll start with what I have easy access to and go from there.

Let's take a moment to appreciate this photo series of Sp. from 2017...as he sat in the crevice of an ancient Redwood. 😆

Summer 2017 - Redwood National Park

We were able to visit and stay in Brookings Oregon for a week, July 2017. We visited the Redwoods, Cape Blanco Light House, crabbing in Port Orford, picked and ate wild Blackberries and swam in the mighty Chetco river.  Unfortunately the area all around Brookings burned later that summer.

Halloween 2014

Halloween snuck up on me again.

Right in the middle of everything it snuck up on me!

I've been helping with costumes for Hannah's high school musical production West Side Story and trying to turn 250 pounds of apples into sauce and pie filling as well as everything else so when my mom offered to make Rose's Halloween costume I was so, so grateful.

To say it turned out perfectly would be an understatement. My mom is an artist with fabric and this is just further proof.

She used Simplicity pattern 1233

Last November, the day after we saw the movie Frozen as a family, Rose decided she and Hannah HAD to dress as Elsa and Anna for Halloween.

What's a mom to do?

However, because I am the queen of procrastination Elsa's dress wasn't even begun until around 8pm October 30th. 

But I got it done. There's a lot I could have and should have done to it to make it more special but she was happy so that's good.

I used McCall's mp381

Sometimes it's hard for a preteen boy to decide what to be for Halloween but he finally settled on Mad Scientist. Such a easy and fun costume. The hair makes it.

We were able to get together with another lovely Elsa. This is my great-niece......oh man that makes me sound old.

Although Josh didn't dress up for Halloween this was the week before and really needed to be documented.

He was dressed like this to cheer his Cross Country (XC) team on at State.

The mustache completes the look.

And finally, Halloween wouldn't be complete without a few jack-o-lanterns.

This years selections included:

Randalf the wizard (Gandalf's less famous/successful brother)
A kitty and her pumpkin
and
Our Lab Sadie

The weather was perfect, everyone was healthy and it really was a great day.

Now bring on the turkey and the pumpkin pie.....

Thanksgiving here we come!

Autumn Fishing 2013

We wanted to make it to Christmas Meadows but it was a long drive and we seemed to always be short on time so we went fishing up Ogden Canyon.
It was beautiful but the fish were only nibbling and stealing the worms but not sticking.

Rose was the only one to actually catch a fish. She wanted to bring it home and keep it as a pet. I said no.

We finished off the day with relaxing and watching Harry Potter.

First and Last part II

The other three are off enjoying their last day and I'm happy to say we made it! This year has been long and quick all at the same time. I'm so proud of all of them and their triumphs this school year but I am looking forward to summer adventures.

First and Last part I

Today was the last day of school for the high schoolers. It's hard to believe another year has gone by.
As I write this I have a senior and a junior who reside in my home.
That is so strange.

First and Last Day Photos.

It's fun to see the difference a few months can make.

Thoughts

It was a year ago this week that we first walked through the house we now call home. Slightly significant but then again maybe not. I guess the interest to me is in the fact that this is not where we thought we would be but it certainly has been for the best.

Since moving I have been asked more times than I can count if it is

creepy

strange

weird

annoying

etc.

to live next to a cemetery.

When we first moved in MDH's answer was always, "No, they make great neighbors. They don't make any noise."

Which is true.

But now we've been here a while I have a few more thoughts on the subject.

I love living next to a cemetery!

Not once have I gotten a creepy vibe coming from that place. Not once. And I consider myself to be fairly in tune with feelings of that nature. 

What I do feel every time I walk through there is love. Never have I felt or seen so much love in one place. I watch people come to honor and connect with those they care about who have passed on.

Some come daily and I ache for their grief.

Others weekly or monthly their sorrow just as palpable, but above all they carry love freely with them.

It is truly a blessing to be able to quietly observe and learn from those living and those whose names are marked there.

Every time I see someone being laid to rest I cry and say a quiet prayer for peace and comfort for those people gathered there, particularly when I hear Taps and a gun salute.

And I feel deep gratitude that I am allowed the opportunity to observe and remember

 that each day I have with those around me I care for is a priceless gift.

It reminds me to slow down and listen attentively to those who need me.

And it reminds me that things are not what's important.

40 years

I'm now 5 months into my 40th year.  Forty, sounds so mature and accomplished like I should know what I'm doing by now. Unfortunately, I'm experiencing what I was told would happen, the more I live, learn, experience the less I feel I know. I'd like to think that what I'm experiencing is wisdom but I'm not going to give myself that much credit.

My parents were 40-ish when I came on the scene and by the time I could comprehend their life before me and their experiences they would share with me it seemed they had really lived.  They'd lived in Hawaii, owned a horse, lived in a house with a swimming pool, owned dogs I'd never met and traveled a lot, just to name a few of their experiences together. But then there were their childhood stories too; hunting in the hills of West Virginia, playing jokes on siblings, family owned diners in Oregon and long lost porcelain dolls.   There definitely had been a lot of living that had happened before and outside of the mountain home where I grew up. I was just sure I'd never get to do, or become, or have anything exciting.

Here I am looking back over my 40 years and by george I have a lot to be grateful for and there sure is a lot I've gotten to do, be and experience. It would seem I've had a lot of excitement too. I've really lived.
What stories of my childhood have I shared with my kids? Hiking in the mountains behind our house, being followed by a bobcat, playing night-games with all of the neighbor kids, taking my brother's bike without permission and completely totaling it by crashing into a tree, traveling to West Virginia, New York, Washington DC, Nauvoo, and Gettysburg.
Married life has brought 9 moves in 18 years (not nearly as many as my parents...(military)) and I've gotten to travel outside of the United States, twice. We haven't owned a horse or a house with a swimming pool and the only dogs we've had were after all of our kids were born, and I'm okay with that. Undoubtedly life has been good to me.

I've decided I really like 40. I feel good in my skin and that's a good feeling.

Looking forward 40 years is a funny undertaking. Our kids will be 57, 56, 53, 50, 47 and they could all possibly be grandparents! I most likely will be a great-grandparent!
That's kind of an exciting and perplexing thought.
I was talking through this issue with Rose and Hannah we decided it was funny we'd all be old together. I guess I kind of seem old to them now.
I decided there are a few things I need to remember when I'm 80+ years old.

• Please just get hearing aides. Everyone will be happier if you do. (However, hopefully they will find a way to fix hearing loss by then)
• Keep using the stairs, even when it's hard, it'll keep you around longer.
• Walk everyday. Don't stop moving.
• Dance everyday.
• Please pay attention to your blood sugar, I know it's a pain, just do it.
• Exercise your brain too, read and memorize.
• Go to the doctor if you're sick. Again, I know it's a pain but please just do it.
• Let your kids/grandkids plan and host family events.
• Don't be afraid to stop driving.

I'm sure I'll think of a few more, it's a list in progress.

I'm so happy with the life I've lived so far. It really has gone as a flash. There are times I miss simpler moments the ones before the kids had school assignments and soccer and music classes and dance classes and everything else....The funny thing is I'm pretty sure in a few short years I will miss the busy moments too, the evenings where we run from activity to activity and stay up late working on homework and finishing laundry.

Each moment has shaped and is shaping me and when I reach the end I'm pretty sure I'm going to look back and treasure each one.

That makes me so excited for the next 40+ years.

My Grandma S. told me once she wanted to live until she was 100 and die the next day just so she could say she'd lived to be 100.  She passed away 2 weeks before her 100th birthday. I say that totally counts.

I've decided I want to do the same thing, live to be 100 and die the next day.

In the mean time.

"...we would do well to slow down a little, proceed at the optimum speed for our circumstances, focus on the significant, lift up our eyes, and truly see the things that matter most."

Dieter F. Uchtdorf, Oct.2010, Of Things That Matter Most

This is my motto.

For Good, High School Musical Productions Featuring Hannah

This school year our girl had the opportunity to be a part of her high school Musical Productions group.
In the fall they put on a musical review called Heroes.  They were able to explore what the word hero means through music and spoken words. Our girl had a solo in the program and of course she did a beautiful job. Honestly I could listen to her all day every day. Luckily I do get to hear impromptu concerts all of the time!
We are so proud of her.
Enjoy

The rest of the summer 2013 and back to school

The rest of the summer was full of everything and lots of little nothings that really made it a fun summer.

Dance recitals.

Time spent at the W. family campgrounds.

County Fair and Elephant rides.

We so need to get our dog to do this!

Grandma W.'s back to school/end of summer party.

 MDH took a business trip to Philadelphia...."Gonna Fly Now"!

And before we knew what hit us it was the first day of school.