Merry Christmas 2011

 

It was a year of settling into change for all of us.  A new home in the summer meant unpacking our household and all the familiar possessions helped everyone feel permanent.  Here’s a rundown of our family…

Lauren-0ldest

It’s been quite a year for her.  Being a senior and turning 18 has been a shock for us all.  She’s taken advantage of all she could and her life has been busy.  Her first job, school dances, old and new friends (and a special friend), last year of high school soccer, all A’s on her report card, and applying to colleges filled her year.  She’s had ups and downs, but weathered them well.  We’re excited to see what the new year brings for her (and us)!

Cole-tallest

Cole has probably changed the most physically this past year.  He grew taller than Kirk and is hoping to keep going.  Cole spent the past year very focused on his development in football.  As parents, we spent the last year trying to get him focused on everything else in his life.  It’s been a little bit harrowing, but we are determined!  He loves his friends here and loves to hang out with them.  A sure fire way to get Cole to talk to you is to ask him about his weight training.  There’s lots of numbers involved without too many feelings, perfect discussion for a just-turned-sixteen year old.  We look forward to an “interesting” year ahead with Cole.

Claire-Professional Teenager

Ah…our Claire, she’s 13 going on 17.  Her sweet personality continues to be her saving grace!  She was relieved to cross the threshold of officially being a teenager, finally, being able to embrace her essence.  Thank goodness, she gives us reprieves along the way. Claire’s year has been occupied with friends, dancing, and more friends.  Oh, and there’s school, which incidentally has a lot of friends also.  We try to keep her busy afterschool with plenty of dance classes, which she loves. 

Evan-funniest!

Evan spent the year making plans with his friends and then fitting in everything else all around that.  With the help of his mobile phone, he maintains a full social schedule and we try and help him leave time for family and school.  Evan shares his dad’s ability of “laser-like” focus and keeps us hopping with his intended activities.  Evan loves football like his brother (I think it’s genetic, I have theories).  Evan will turn 12 in a few months and we are excited for his year.  I can’t believe my baby is that old!

Speaking of old…

Kirk-oldest (sorry, couldn’t resist)

In spite of our energetic children, Kirk gets the “Most patient and calmest parent Award” this year.  Apparently, after his 15-year tenure at Sprint, teenagers are a cake-walk.  Kirk’s also the appointed (by me), stay-up-until-the-kids-get-home-at-night parent.  With the kids, he is a master at “let’s go into the office and talk” (while closing the door behind him).  I love my new relaxed and available husband.  He was glad to get us settled into a house this summer. 

Carol-current status, oh, that’s hard, it changes from minute to minute!

.  My year literally flew by.  I spent most of it looking for a house and then moving into it.  I’ve been unpacking, organizing, painting, arranging, and re-arranging.  The pictures are mostly up and I feel settled.

I am constantly reminding myself to enjoy each day with whatever comes my way and cherish this time with my children.  They grow and change so quickly.  Sometimes it’s fun and exciting and other times it’s heartbreaking.  But overall, life is good and we’ll hang in there and keep moving forward!

Merry Christmas from our family and we wish the best for all our dear family and friends in the coming year!

Learning from the Sidelines…

 

That’s how we’re approaching Cole’s season-ending ankle injury last week.  Tackled and twisted, he ruptured a ligament in his ankle in his game.  There’s only 3 games left, but one of them happens to be the Bountiful game.  That’s torture for a Woods Cross boy!  So, he will get to watch from the sidelines and contribute in a different way (that’s the positive spin we’re going with).  Yesterday was the surgery and he came through it like a champ and, boy, was he funny on drugs!  Here’s his post-op pic:

Without drugs, there’s no way I’d get a thumbs up and a smiling picture.  Here’s a picture from the surgery:

The clamp pushed the bones back together and then the high tech “stringy” zip tie thing is inserted through the drilled holes (above the clamp) and tightened.  The device stays in his ankle (forever) and then scar tissue forms over the ligament and strengthens it.  That’s my very own description.  It sounded different from the doctor!  But he’ll be good as new after 6 weeks on crutches and some physical therapy. 

And, while he’s been knocked out on drugs flat on his back these past 2 days, look what I did:

Carolyn came over and taught me and then today I did it on my own!  From our very own peach tree.  I feel so domestic!  I can’t wait to put them on my shelves in my food storage room.  By the way, this is my kitchen, and although it is a bit dated and “old,” it is totally functional with lots of storage room.  I really love it!  It is bright and sunny and looks out over the backyard.

Lauren-Lou

In about a week and a half Lauren will turn 18.  How is that possible?  This past year has been a tough one for Lauren.  To put it mildly, she’s had a few ups and downs.  But, I’m glad to say that she has become very good at ending up on top following her downs!  And, isn’t that what we all have to learn to do?  She sort of had a head start on what I think many girls go through after high school.  She’s heading into this year with a great attitude and is excited for all that’s before her.  I’m really proud of her for her determination to push through discouragement.  As a freshman, her soccer coach described her as a tenacious player, and she has remained that on the field and in her life.  She is having a great Senior year, beginning with her soccer experience.

She was excited to get her number 20 back this year.  It was a good omen.  She’s playing as well as she ever has.  She does not plan to play in college and we’ll see how long that lasts.  Maybe intramurals will be enough…

This guy might be another reason for a good Senior year.  This is Erik and he is a nice boy who knows the fine art of sucking up to his girlfriend’s mom.  We like Erik.  (don’t blow it Erik!)

Lauren and Claire have been bonding over make-up and clothing.  That is, either bonding or fighting.  I had to put a stop on the sneaking between rooms that was going on.  Claire was very flattered to be asked to help with Lauren’s make-up for homecoming.  I thought it was too dark but Lauren thought it was perfect (of course).

Since we’re close to family, we get to spend time with them at our family’s “farm” house in Idaho.  Lauren loves hanging out with her cute cousins and her very cool aunts.  I’ve found Aunts to be a very useful tool with teenage girls.  I highly recommend using them.  They tell your teenagers everything you do, except the teenagers actually listen to them and think their ideas are cool.  How did I ever survive without them close by?  To the right of Lauren is Kirk’s youngest sister Nannette and 2 of my cutest baby nieces ever.  The cute brunette is Chloe.  She is Claire’s age.

I think Lauren likes having Cole at the high school with her.  The football players now know she is, “Cole’s sister.”  They have their games on the same day so they get to dress up in their Woods Cross gear on the same days and don’t they look so cute.  Lauren’s really breathing out threats to me while I am taking this picture. 

Lauren’s room was also painted purple.  But, she would want you to know that she chose purple first and Claire copied.  Her room is in the basement far away down a long hallway.  She likes it down there.  I will have to take some “after” pictures because it turned out really cute (if I do say so).  Claire helped us paint that day.  This was a good bonding day with no fighting!

And so, Lauren has one more time to take the ACT and then she will apply to all the Utah schools and see where she gets accepted.  Lots of big decisions ahead.  Of course, we might have tried to sway her towards our preferred school…

But, Lauren’s in the driver’s seat on this one.  We can’t wait to see where her road of life takes her!

The Bicycle Ride

 

An excerpt from a speaking assignment I gave in church last Sunday.  The assigned topic was from Elder Robert D. Hales General Conference talk in April of 2010 entitled:  “Our Duty to God:  The Mission of Parents and Leaders to the Rising Generation.”  A great talk you can review here.

Anytime I think about leading by example, I think of an experience I had with my children when they were very young.  It was a school holiday, and our children wanted to do something fun.  They decided that since everyone could ride a 2-wheeled bicycle we would go for a longer ride to a different park than we normally went to.  I was a little apprehensive, since this would be my first “solo” ride with everyone, without Kirk along to help.  But, because I wanted to be a “fun and spontaneous” mom and “fun moms do things like this,” I talked myself into it. 

So, I carefully worked out my plan to be able to make it past the busy intersections taking advantage of all the sidewalks and trails available.  When it was time to go, I arranged the kids in the order that I thought would be best. 

This picture taken about the same time as the experience!

I had Lauren, our oldest at age 9 be in the front.  She was my responsible, rule follower who I knew would be able to listen and obey my directions.  Then followed the second oldest, Cole at age 7, thinking that he would follow his sister and she would keep him in check.  Next came the youngest children.  Claire, age 5, who had just recently learned to ride a 2-wheeler and might need a little help, and then Evan, who in spite of being just 3, decided to learn to ride at the same time as Claire so he wouldn’t be left out of anything fun.

I had put myself at the end of this little train, thinking that I would be in the best position to help the youngest ones stay the course.  Well, we set off and for the first few minutes we were having our memorable, spontaneous, fun bike ride.  I can’t remember the details of when and how it transitioned from fun to chaos.  There were unexpected physical obstacles like curbs, broken sidewalks, traffic, intersections without cross-walks, slight inclines and declines in grade.  For an experienced adult biker these would hardly be noticed.  However, for our group, these were grave impediments to our progress.  I was one minute helping Claire back on her bike, and the next, trying to keep Evan from veering completely off the sidewalk into oncoming traffic. 

Then there were, what I like to call, personality-induced obstacles.  It turned out that Cole, my second-oldest didn’t like to be led by his older, slower-peddling sister.  At any opportunity to overtake her, he would.  For Lauren, who had been charged with being the leader, and took her role very seriously, this was a grave infraction and required yelling at him and then back at me.  Cole just wanted to be able to go faster and be the first one to the park.  Claire was trying so hard to keep going and would get frustrated with herself when she needed help.  Evan couldn’t understand why staying on the sidewalk was such a big deal.  In his mind, the cars streaming past him made it much more exciting.  There certainly couldn’t be anything to worry about. 

Then followed the frantic mother.  One minute I was consoling a crying Claire with loving, encouraging words and the next I was screaming at the top of my lungs, threatening Cole with anything I could think of.  I tried to explain to an upset Lauren that it was okay for Cole to be in front, in spite of my earlier instructions.   I had thought I had put everyone in the correct order to insure our safe and timely arrival at the park, but I quickly realized that trying to lead this group from the back of the line was about the worst idea ever.  Well, we made it to that park and I’m sure the children had a fun day.  I doubt the children now even remember that ride, but as a parent, I will never forget it.

I will never forget it because I learned an important lesson that day.  You can’t lead from behind.  You can’t lead a bike ride, a Primary class, a Priesthood Quorum, and you certainly can’t lead a family.

Elder Hales said that we lead “by example—consistently and diligently living gospel principles at home.”  He states, “this takes determination and diligence.”  He continues, “for youth, there is no substitute for seeing the gospel lived in our daily lives.”

End of my excerpt.

I think about that experience every now and then.  It helps me recommit  to living gospel principles more fully so that I am a good example for my family.  Another quote I used in my talk was from Ralph Waldo Emerson:

“What you do speaks so loud

that I cannot hear what you say.”

Yes, that’s the challenge as parents, isn’t it!  Good thing we can repent and keep trying.  I’m hoping that if I just keep starting over my children will at least know that it was important enough to keep trying!

Game Day

 

Such a breath of fresh air to see your son come up the stairs for school, looking like this:

Not once, but twice a week for several months during football season.  I love living here!  Although I immediately realized that he needs more dress clothes now, school-proof dress clothes.  Because I discovered, at the END of game day, the clothes are balled up next to sweaty, dirty football clothes shoved in his bag.  And then, I’m reminded…he’s a 15-year old boy!

To dream the impossible dream…

 

I believe that’s an old song.  When we lived in California, I would have dreams about having a basement and what I would do with the extra space.  Well, I pretty much have my dream basement, minus the forest green carpet!  Here’s my favorite space in the entire house!

It’s my craft room!  Cole calls it my “crap room".  But, it is an amazing space filled with amazing amounts of storage.  And, it’s all mine!!!  What did I do with all this stuff before?  I have no idea.  I think I must have had it tucked away in all different places of the house.  I have all my sewing, craft, scrapbook, keepsakes, wrapping, extra frames that need pictures, the list goes on and on.

 

 

It has closed storage from floor to ceiling with adjustable shelves! 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Then a corner desk area with tons of counter space.  To the left of the desk space is a cabinet that perfectly stores my sewing machine.  Then there are drawers!  And then, more closed storage!  I know, amazing!

This will be my inspiration board.  I just love being to spread out a project and be able to leave it and not have it in the way.  I’ve kept my sewing machine out and can run down and fix something for the kids very quickly.  I even hemmed up a long dress for Claire one morning right before church.  It’s my happy place!  Here’s another happy place,

Yes, that’s right, food storage ROOM, a whole room!  But, wait, it gets better…

I know, it’s HUGE!  It also makes me realize that I have no where near 1 year’s supply of food.  But, I do have a lifetime supply of toys that my kids have played with (so I can be the favorite Grandma).  So to all my California friends, move to Utah and you too, can have this much storage!!!  Does it make up for lack of a beach and snow, not sure about that!

First Day of School 2011-2012

 

Here we are, another year…

Time is flying by, Lauren’s a Senior, Cole a Sophmore, Claire 8th grader, and Evan 6th grader.  Here’s hoping it’ll be a good one!

Claire Bear

Finding pictures of Claire for this post isn’t really too hard since she takes several HUNDRED pictures with friends ALL the time!  Claire’s had a fairly easy adjustment to living in Bountiful.  This is one of her new friends.  I never have any idea what is going on in most of her pictures.

 

She loves to put gobs of make-up on and take pictures.  Sad thing is, she’s really good at it.  Too much practice for a just barely 13 year old-don’t you think?  I’m sure the other moms say things like, “I can’t believe her mother lets her out of the house that way…”  Some days I have bigger battles to pursue and some days I don’t.  Claire is willing to take the chance!

 

 

She still  has a soft spot for her Shorty-puppy!

Apparently Shorty has some competition for her affections.  It’s been a tough year keeping the boys out of the house—literally, but I’m up for the job (like I said, I pick my battles).

 

 

But, underneath it all, she’s still our happy, smiling Claire, just with a little sass now! 

She went to dance camp at BYU this summer with her friend, LANI, from California.  They stayed in the dorms for 2 weeks and didn’t even talk to any boys (really?)  She had a wonderful time and learned how to blow dry her pointe shoes???

She bonded with cousins at family reunion time.  Millie might be trying to keep the sun out of her eyes or, she might be growling like a tiger?

 

She drove a boat at Red Fish Lake.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

She rode an ATV thing with Evan and Kirk and I in St. George.

She had many dance performances, and loved them all.  She’s the little one in the middle.

And bonded with Lauren on a trip to Arizona!

I don’t have any pictures with her and Cole.  We’ll have to work on that.

I think girls with older sisters are lucky.  They can leave all the serious growing up stuff to them to figure out and they can just hang back and enjoy the ride.  So, while Claire tries her best to ride off into the sunset…

We’ll be following close behind, to keep her “reigned” in!  We love you, Claire!

Update on Cole

I’m interrupting home décor posts for a little bit to update on the kids.  I’m beginning with my current favorite child, Cole.  Cole’s been having a great year.  This summer he’s done lots of fun things like:  horseback riding…

…river rafting with his scout group.

A little sight-seeing along the way.  He’s also worked with Grandpa up in Idaho and learned to drive the tractor.  No pictures of that-sorry.

He learned how to play Lacrosse this past school year and is currently LOVING football.  He gets to start high school for a second time in a few weeks.  He has made some good friends.  He’s a hard worker and has been so happy and helpful.  He’s got a fun sense of humor.  He just got his learner’s permit and is doing a good job with driving.  See why he’s my favorite right now?  School’s starting so that may not last, but we’re always hopeful!

Claire’s Room

 

Ever since Kirk quit his job at Sprint and I knew that selling the house was a high probability I went into “house staging mode.”  I didn’t tell the kids why I took down personal pictures or why they couldn’t paint their room some crazy color.  I just was preparing for what I knew was coming.  Two years later we are finally settled and permanent!  So when Claire wanted to paint her room purple, and I mean purple, how could I deny her?  First, she had to take down the wallpaper border, and that just about did her in.  Good thing she had Shorty close by to keep her company!

Here’s a sneak peak after 2 coats of purple.  She loves it and wants to move to window treatments now…oh boy, she might just be my daughter!

The curtain leads to her walk-in closet, which is huge!  She’s been bugging us to take down the door since we moved in.  Kirk wouldn’t let her, but I’m thinking we’ve got at least a year before he notices!

Michael and Kerstin

Kirk and I flew to Dallas last week for my brother’s wedding!  We were so excited!  This is the BEFORE picture.  This is MY family…we were sealed in May in the Mesa Temple FOREVER!!!

 

My parents have waited for this day for a long time.  They look happy here!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Aren’t they a cute couple?  Below is my favorite shot: 

Here’s a close up of her bouquet which she MADE out of decorative paper.  Each flower is folded to make a flower.  It was incredible.  She made hundreds (?) of them as decorations at the reception.  I was very impressed with her craftiness.  She can definitely be a “Knab.”

Check out her cute shoes:

And, the best part are these two cuties:

Thayde and Cohl (like my Cole).  They are 7 years old and 9 years old.  My kids are excited to meet them.  They LOVE Michael and, I know, Michael loves them.  Here’s my fav pic. of all of them:

They make such a cute family!  We are so excited for Michael and are thrilled to welcome Kerstin, Thayde and Cohl to our family!

So, I didn’t have any pictures of Kirk and I, but I cropped one just to prove we were there!