With Skis On

Our first year in Utah, I talked to a friend about the intense winter.  She said that the best way to get through winter is to find a way to enjoy it.  She and her husband both did a lot of skiing, but other people enjoy snowmobiling, snowshoeing, cross-country skiing, etc.  Over the next 5 years in Utah with only occasional moderate fun in the snow, I kept thinking about her advice.

And then as Christmas approached, we decided that our family was in need of a little adventure, so we finally gave skiing a try.  We did this whole thing for about as cheap as you can, and we were only at Sundance for a few hours.  I was really hoping to find out if skiing is something our family should actually make an effort to learn, or if we wouldn't enjoy it at all.  Well, I'd say that for most of us, we would enjoy skiing a few times a year.  For others of us, it might be better to have a play date with friends instead.

We asked Uncle Ben to teach us the basics, and he did a great job.  After some instruction and a little time at the foot of the mountain, the girls started climbing higher and higher to try to get the hang of this skiing thing.  They both really enjoyed it and caught on pretty well.

The boys were less enthusiastic.  It only took about 15 minutes before Jack was collapsed in a heap of protestation on the snow, adamant that we were inflicting the worst punishment imaginable.  Luke lasted longer than Jack, but ended up in a similar position with a similar proclamation.

As for Ben and me, we enjoyed the experience overall and I think we would have gotten the hang of the whole skiing thing if we hadn't been alternately trying to figure it out ourselves, helping the girls get going, and reassuring the boys that it wasn't the end of the world.

Jack's Talk

Today Jack gave his first talk as a member of Senior Primary.  The topic was "I can learn to choose the right."  He and I worked on it together and it truly was a collaboration.  I'll list the final draft first, and afterward I'll share some of his exact words from the first draft.

When we came to earth, we were created to learn about CTR.  I think you have a question about what CTR means.  C for “choose.” Choose means you make a type of decision.  T stands for “the” and R means “right.”  “The right” is when you make the best decision.  How can you know what the best decisions are?  You can think about what the rules and commandments are, you can think about what the consequences might be, and you can listen for the promptings of the Holy Ghost.

If you have any trouble in church, school, at home, at play, or even in parks, you can pray and see if God can help you with CTR.

One of my favorite examples of CTR is the story of Nephi and his brothers getting the brass plates from Laban. Nephi’s brothers didn’t want to go because they thought it would be hard, but Nephi wanted to obey the Lord.

In 1st Nephi chapter 3 verse 7, Nephi said, “I will go and do the things which the Lord hath commanded, for I know that the Lord giveth no commandments unto the children of men, save he shall prepare a way for them that they may accomplish the thing which he commandeth them.”

I know that Heavenly Father wants us to CTR, just like Nephi did. And the more we practice, the better we'll get.

In the name of Jesus Christ, amen.

First Draft:

When we came to earth, we were created to learn about CTR.  I think you have a question about what CTR means.  C for “choose.” Choose means you make a type of decision.  T stands for “the.” R means “right.”  “The right” means, if there’s a big decision, you can think if this decision is better, or is this decision the best.  If you feel like the decision is better, you can please choose that decision.

If you know that decision is best, you might want to choose it.  But first I think you’d better think about, “Is this choice better?  Or is the other one better?”  And if you think that choice is better, then you’d better think about consequences.  

If you have any trouble in church, school, at home, at play, or even in parks, you can pray and see if God can help you with CTR.

Today

It's been a very busy couple of weeks in our family.  With piano commitments (above and beyond the usual), basketball games and practices for two kids, Cub Scouts activities, soccer practice, the science fair, each parent taking a turn going out of town, my choir commitments, gifted testing for Junior High, two birthday parties, plus homework and other daily tasks... well, I'm tired.

But today was nice and laid-back.  We had a couple of things on the calendar (a piano audition for Cat, which went well, and a basketball game for Jack) but by lunch time, the day was our own.  Ben got both cars washed. Eliza and I finally got her new Christmas Spirograph to work.  The younger kids played with toys that have been hiding in a closet for weeks.  Everyone was together to enjoy a handful of potato chips with lunch.  Cat had a play date with a good friend, and later showed us a dance that the 6th graders at school are learning.  Jack and I worked on a talk he'll be giving in Primary tomorrow.  Ben had a fun movie night with the kids while I went to the temple.  I felt un-rushed reading Little House on the Prairie with Jack and Eliza at bedtime.  And on top of all that, some housework got done too.

Anyway, it was a good day.  Now, hopefully tomorrow's day of rest will get us completely re-charged for another full week ahead of us.

Not even slightly posed.

Nothin' But Net

Tonight during the halftime of Cat's basketball game, my three younger kids rushed the court to have their turn.  Eliza had the ball, so Jack started shooting with something else: Spot, the small stuffed puppy dog who joined our family about 4 years ago.  Watching Jack propel Spot toward the basket, I thought, "Is he trying to get Spot stuck in the net?" And a few seconds later, that's exactly what Spot was.  Cat was one of the first to notice what happened, so she came over and tried to knock Spot loose with a basketball.  After a few attempts, another adult nearby decided to give it a try, but still no luck.  Finally, Cat's coach came over and jumped up a few times to knock the poor, strangling puppy dog out of the basketball net.

I probably should have gone over to help but I was too busy laughing.  And taking pictures.  (Besides, I don't think I would have done any better with getting Spot loose, to be honest.)

Perhaps we shouldn't bring Spot to any more basketball games.  Or maybe I shouldn't bring Jack?

Lights at Temple Square

It had been a year or two since we braved the crowds and the cold weather to see the lights at Temple Square as a family, so we didn't mind too much that Ben and Suz wanted to make that pilgrimage.  Because we visited the day after Christmas, it wasn't as crowded as it usually is.  The lights were beautiful, and we enjoyed seeing the nativities from around the world and other decorations on Temple Square, but between the very low temperatures and the children (mostly Luke) who didn't want to stay in the designated walking areas, we didn't mind keeping our visit on the quick side.  At least we made time for a few photos.

Christmas Day 2016 - Part 2

We failed to get a full family picture after Church, but we still got some fun ones.

That afternoon we took the kids to a park with a sledding hill so they could try out the sleds Santa brought them.  They had a blast, even though the hill was a bit small.  Cat's Santa gift was a beginning snowboard and she had a lot of fun trying it out.

Christmas evening Cat really began working on learning ukulele in earnest.  Luckily, her visiting uncle plays ukulele and was able to help her get started.  In the first 24 hours or so, Cat had learned 15 chords and worked on singing tons of songs.

The youngest three of the house entertained themselves with glow sticks for a while.

Eliza got a few arts & crafts kits for Christmas and had fun trying out as many as she could that day.

Jack and Ben spent a lot of time putting together this ship from
Jack's new LEGO Creator set.  Very cool!

We had a great day together, enjoying church and fun surprises and just being together.  I'm so thankful for the Christmas season.  I'm thankful for the fun and the presents and the family time.  And I'm so very thankful for the reason for the season, that Jesus Christ came to Earth to make it possible for us to return to Heaven once more.

Christmas Day 2016 - Part 1

We had a lovely Christmas together with my sister and her family.  The kids helped us to not oversleep, as sometimes happens on Sundays.  We got up and found out what Santa brought the kids (each kid received a sled and a toy, except Cat, who received a ukulele instead of a toy) and opened gifts.  Then it was time to finish off the amazing waffles Suz and Ben got us, and the kids took some time to enjoy Christmas gifts before heading to church.

Styrofoam Has Been Banned From Our House

One night at the beginning of January, the kids were playing downstairs and decided to take some styrofoam and break it up into the tiniest balls they could. Jack was the ringleader of this endeavor, and he did a bang-up job.

I learned several things from this experience.

1. I don't handle messes of incredible size very well.

2. Ben is level-headed enough to Google solutions, since the vacuum got overheated after a short period of vacuuming and the static-cling of the styrofoam balls made clean-up nearly impossible.

3. Keep packing tape on hand. That was the only way we could clean it all up.

4. Your kids might surprise you with their willingness to help.

5. If your entire family pitches in, you can have the mess cleaned up in about 2 hours

6. You will probably continue to see little tiny styrofoam balls scattered throughout the house for weeks after The Incident. Just deal with it.

Thrifting With Luke

He found this cat dress for his sister by the same name. He was unhappy that I didn't buy it. But I loved that he saw something that he thought she would have liked and wanted her to have it.

Jack's Dream

Look what I did!

I'm so proud of this!  I can't believe it took me so long to sit down and figure it out.  The first attempt wasn't perfect, but I was pleased and heartened with the results.  Mostly I think I need to work on keeping it in Cat's hair, because this one didn't stay in for very long.  But at least I'm on the right track.

Family Home Evening

Darth Vader and the Broken Lightsaber

Candid Camera

The other night we had a ham dinner.  As with most non-dessert and non-white-bread type foods, ham is liked by some of my family, but not everybody.

Eliza said that she simply could not eat the ham.  Unfortunately for her, some amount of ham consumption was required before she would be allowed to have any dessert.  I told her that I'd be happy to puree it, baby food style, if that would help, and she immediately requested that I let her eat it that way.  Since I was joking about the pureeing, I decided to do the next best thing.  I took a few regular-sized bites of ham and cut them into the tiniest bits I could manage, then mixed them up with a scoop of mashed potatoes.  Eliza likes mashed potatoes, so I thought the combination would work well.

Eliza decided that the ham wasn't diluted enough in the single scoop of mashed potatoes, and immediately added two more big scoops of mashed potatoes to her plate.  I reminded her that she needed to eat every one of the little bits of ham, and she assured me that she could.

Until, she couldn't.

And she asked me to retrieve the ham bits from the mountain of mashed potatoes on her little plate.

So I did.

And it was after about 15 minutes of playing search-and-rescue for miniscule bits of ham swimming in cold mashed potatoes that I decided I was probably being punked.  Because what I was doing was absolutely in sane and would provide great entertainment for the general public.

But the Candid Camera crew never did emerge.  I suspect that they're still hiding somewhere in my house, awaiting the next opportunity to catch me in the act of crazy.

For the record, Eliza finally managed to choke down the ham.

All in the name of dessert, my friends.

Christmas Eve

Here are a few highlights from a lovely Christmas Eve:

My family knows me so well!  My sister and BIL surprised us with dough balls

from a delicious liege waffle restaurant nearby, without knowing that Ben and Cat

had already gotten me a Belgian waffle maker for Christmas.  So I got to open up my

gift a day early and we had the most delicious breakfast ever.  Yeah!

Suz and I had some Christmas story time with the kids, letting them each choose

a Christmas story for us to read while we were comfy with pillows and blankets.

The kids were excited to have another Bethlehem Dinner this year, and we changed

our menu a bit.  Just like last year we had homemade hummus (thanks to Suz) and pita bread,

nuts-to-be-cracked, grapes, and olives.  But we sampled some olives from our grocery store's

olive bar to expand our palates a bit, and added some cured meats and red peppers.  Probably not the most authentic meal ever, but that's okay.  I think the kids enjoy the

candles (especially if they float) and nut-cracking as much as anything else.

Luke was too grumpy to stay up through the reading of Luke 2, so I missed most of it

while I was putting him to bed.  That means he also missed the chance to sleep with the

other kids in the play room.  They sure looked cute all lined up and trying so hard

to go to sleep quickly so that Christmas would come sooner.

Pre-Christmas Adventures

The Museum of Natural Curiosity - 12/21

Provo Rec Center Pool - 12/22

Seven Peaks Family Fun Center - 12/23