We are so stinking busy these days. I know it's totally my fault for signing up for too many things, but it really doesn't seem unreasonable at the onset, but that is deceiving. Scott's been working morning until midnight every day trying to make up for missing two weeks while we are away, while still managing to go to every ball game and be home for bedtime more often than not, and satisfy the demands of his church calling. I've had huge commitments lately at work, with The Lower Lights, and with The Rooftop Concert Series, on top of the normal daily lives of 4 kids and church responsibilities and attempting to keep up with the household. I'm not complaining or bragging - just marveling on how we've managed to get ourselves so engaged in life that it is practically flying right past us. I asked Scott yesterday if I could please just have one day where nobody needs any food. That's all - just take the food needs away for a day and I think I might have a chance at catching up a little. He said no. He's so mean. Was it really too much to ask? I mean really - they would all survive just fine for one day without food. I really hate food.
OK. Sorry for the rambling. On with the update. We'll start with Spring Break, April 11-15. Because of our upcoming trip we decided not to go anywhere for Spring Break. Instead we made a list of activities - everyone got to contribute a couple ideas - and every day tried to do one or two things from the list.
The weather was good for half the week, so we were sure to do the outdoor activities on those days. By the end we had accomplished everything on our list except one thing I added (ride bikes on the Provo River trail to Utah Lake). But we did:- go to the skatepark
- ride bikes a lot, including on our cul de sac, up in the mountains close to our house, and discovered "the basement jumps" (some guys built some dirt ramps and jumps near their apartments)
- went skiing/snoboarding at Snowbird (June and Huck were super excited to stay home with their favorite next-door neighbor babysitter Julia)
- hiked the Y with Christine and Mom and Dad
- went swimming at our favorite indoor community pool
- did indoor surfing/arcade/jungle gym at Provo Beach Resort
Mostly I'll just say we survived it in style. I personally am not a fan of the unstructured time that comes with school breaks. I like having a routine and purpose to each day, as well as an emphasis on work as a part of the routine, which I seem to be unable to instill on our own at home. Everyone seems to think if they're off school they should get to just play all the time, and it's true - kids should get to play - but in general no one really gets to just play all the time and I don't like the sense of entitlement that comes along with school breaks. I don't know if that makes sense.
So moving on, the week after Spring Break was very exciting because all my siblings gathered here in Provo to celebrate Christine's BYU graduation. So exciting, in fact, that it required a 2-week paper chain countdown until Aunt Rachel was coming. (Quick time out here - you'll notice a trend in some of the coming pictures of June in her jammies. June is in a definite jammie phase right now - craving to be comfy as much as possible. It's a common fight between us about when and where is appropriate to wear jammies and when she absolutely must wear clothes.) So Annee arrived on Tuesday, Steve & Ie Li and family arrived on Wednesday, Rachel & Ken arrived on Thursday morning , and Zack & Ana & Jack arrived Thursday evening. It was so great to be all together. We talked a lot, ate good food, cousins got to play together, and most importantly, we got to take this picture:
I think Mom has been dreaming of this picture for 17 years. All 6 of her kids BYU college grads. Quite a feat. Congratulations to everyone involved who helped make that dream come true.
In fact what's even more amazing is all 5 of the spouses are also BYU grads (well technically Ana and Scott are not actually BYU grads but Ana (UCSD) lived in Provo supporting Zack while he finished for enough years and Scott (USC) did take his last couple classes at BYU and lives in Provo now, so for the sake of the story we'll go ahead and count them as alumni), as well as Mom and Dad too. Our family's probably not that unique among the general BYU population, but in and of itself it is quite impressive, I think.
Having everyone in town for graduation made us think we should take advantage and really pile on the family activities. On Friday after graduation we headed over to the Provo Library where The Lower Lights were performing a big concert in the ballroom. It was a really cool room and great location and they played so amazing and there were lots of people there and it was really a beautiful concert.
On Saturday morning Scott woke up bright and early so he could start filling the baptismal font at the church at 6am. We decided to have a family baptism for Oliver while everyone was in town, and it was an absolutely beautiful meeting. We sang songs and Mom and Annee gave great talks and Scott and Dad both bore beautiful testimony. The Spirit was strong in the room as Oliver took this big brave step to be baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Oliver is such a good and conscientious and obedient boy. He is so smart and thoughtful and anxious to do what's right. I am so proud of him. And I was so pleased that we could share that experience with so many family members. That is really a rare occurrence when those opportunities coincide, but it's so special and strengthening to feel so united and connected in purpose and love with every one in the room.You'd think graduation, a concert, and a baptism would be enough excitement for one weekend, but no, next we moved on to Easter.
That started with dying eggs at Grandma & Grandpa's house on Saturday afternoon.
Then Sunday morning there were Easter baskets, then church, then dinner and park time at Grandma & Grandpa's, then the requisite family pictures before letting them loose on the egg hunt (notice an egg carefully perched behind us).
Again, it was so fun to share the festivities of the day with so much family. These kids had a great time together and all got along so well - making some invaluable forever memories.
Man we sure are going to miss this girl! CZ gets to brag that she was the first one for whom Huck had a distinguishable name.
Needless to say, after that weekend we needed some serious rest and recovery time. The following week we just tried to catch up, which meant leaving the house as little as possible and lots of time for the kids to entertain themselves.
Unfortunately Huck's idea of entertaining himself isn't always the same as mine, and every day I learn a new lesson like "lock the front door" or "keep the pantry door closed" or "keep the toilet lid down" and now "drain the bath".
He sure loves the attention from his older siblings, who in turn love to make him do ridiculous things. Yes, he gets to be one of those kids who will report that his older siblings dressed him up like a girly butterfly when he was a baby.
Here are a few more jammies shots for you.
So a post on May 19th wouldn't be complete without a horticulture update as well. During the growing season it is like I have another child with how much I pay attention to, tend to, and worry about the landscaping. We've loved seeing the color bloom along the rocks out back, and this crabapple tree was splendid. Out front the honeysuckle vines are completely taking over the pillar along the driveway, but thankfully my work earlier in the season to re-train them I think is paying off. The grass has come in well, albeit with a few more dandelions than I would liked. I tried to spray them but must have used the wrong stuff because now we have a bunch of dead patches throughout the grass. The short fall took a bit of a toll on our roses, but overall I think they've fared well enough.
Our bulbs bloomed beautifully including an extra row of daffodils out front which Mom surprised us with (secretly planted them last fall).
I'm not quite sure where these volunteer tulips have come from, but I'll take them over dandelions any day. The dogwood tree is about to pop out back, which is my all-time favorite, but we will miss most of it's bloom while we are away. One of the two peonies bushes is doing great. The other one is struggling. My lemon tree is still holding on to one last leaf and I'm still holding out hope of a comeback, but no signs yet. I'm excited to get the porch pots delivered soon. Maybe they'll come while we're gone.
Actually the most exciting thing happening in our plant world is this funny house plant which I've been tending for years. You know these kind that completely wilt when they need water and then revive so quickly you could practically watch them come back. Well it all of a sudden decided to produce some flowers! So now our bedroom is starting to feel rather tropical.
OK, moving on (pretty sure no one is still reading this after that disproportionately long horticulture update, but it's for my records anyway so I'm ok with that).
One huge thing I'm involved in this summer is the Downtown Provo Rooftop Concert Series (free monthly outdoor concerts May through October). We had our first concert on May 6th with Fictionist headlining and Paul Jacobsen and the Madison Arm opened. With all the planning and preparation that goes into a concert, you never quite know how many people (if any) are going to come.
We were completely floored when over 1500 people showed up! What a thrill! Plus I'm sure it's more than a coincidence that the weather that day was absolutely perfect. (It rained all the week before and the week after.) Great crowd, great weather, amazing music, huge energy. We call that a success of utmost proportion.We've got a great crew of volunteers organized to help out this year, which is so great, and I'm getting better at delegating and letting go, so hopefully the monthly burden won't be too great. I appreciate Scott for letting me be a part of this, since I do really enjoy it and I know it takes a toll on our family (anything taking the mother's time and attention away takes it's toll on the family).
(More great poster design from Matt Mildenstein)OK. I think that's it. Or at least that needs to be it. Mom took the kids to see African Cats so I could "get ready for the trip" and I see them pulling up now. We leave on the red-eye flight from SLC to JFK on Saturday night (arriving Sunday morning). Wish us luck.
Post Edit:
I forgot to post my before & after haircut pictures.
Still can't decide which I like better, but change is fun. And it certainly was about time.
Post Edit #2:
I forgot to link to our continuing sister updates. After I hosted the update on April 18, then
Annee hosted (vintage graduation style) on May 2
Ie Li hosted on May 9 (where I show my entry into maxi dresses)
and Rachel hosted this week's (with bonus update from honorary sister Summer)
2 comments:
You did it!! You got the blog updated, now you can leave on your trip. Remember, you can do laundry here, and surely if you forget anything, we have an extra :)
Can't wait to see you all again so soon. I'm really so very excited.
Lots of love!!!
Wow! I came back to add how jealous I was about your last day of school ( we still have three weeks to go!) and as a bonus got to see the haircut photos!! It looks great. You had so much length before. But the new do is great for the new season. Super cute.
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