may around here

This month has been crazy! Baseball, soccer, end of the year madness and all the regular stuff in our schedule has added up to a month that felt a little out of control.

We went on a field trip with Anne's preschool class to the BYU paleontology museum. I can totally remember going there when I was in preschool.

We also got to go to the new children's museum at Thanksgiving Point call the Museum of Natural Curiosity. The kids loved it and have been asking to go back ever since.

Nathan had to have custom orthotics made for his feet to the tune of $380. He is able to walk and run so much better with them in his shoes. Hopefully they will make a big difference for him long term.

BYU held a Fan Fest at our city park. We were already there for Sawyer's soccer game that morning so it was an easy trek over to the festivities. The kids went on the bounce houses and slides and got their faces painted. Sadly, Anne was too scared to do stunts with the cheerleaders. We got autographs from players like basketball star Tyler Haws, two BYU women's soccer players and some football players. At the football area, Emma was responding to a text. Bronco Mendenhall asked her if it was a boy or girl. When she responded it was a boy, he proceeded to ask her a bunch of questions about how he treated her. It was so great. I wish I had it on video. At the end, Anne got hit in the face with a soccer ball, so they gave her one to take home. Our soccer-playing kids were quite jealous.

I had to take another glucose test at 28 weeks. Gestational diabetes round two has arrived sadly. My numbers are really not good this time around. They already have put me on a low dose of glyburide which still isn't quite controlling my morning numbers. Because of the diabetes, this baby will be making his arrival at least one week early.

Dana was in town for some training. She and Keri were kind enough to come meet me up at Emma's soccer game in Layton. I took a few headshots of Dana in a beautiful field of weeds. We went out for a delicious dinner after Emma's disappointing loss.

We were lucky enough to be invited over to Grandma and Grandpa Daniel's house for dinner a couple of times. Anne threw us a delightful "grown up tea party" one evening.

Nathan was awarded his Wolf in Cub Scouts. I got to Pack Meeting 5 minutes too late to see him get the award because of Sawyer's baseball game. We recreated the moment though.

Emma went with her best friend Annie to St. George for the Memorial Day weekend. She's been gone a lot and will be gone most of the month of June with soccer and choir stuff. I hope she is having lots of fun. We do love seeing her when she is home although she is usually somewhere checking her Instagram feed or texting her friends. She finished up her 8th grade year with a 4.0 and seems to be doing really well, despite the usual teenage angst that shows up here and there.

cornbellys

We went to Cornbelly's at Thanksgiving Point with our homeschool group on Friday, November 2. It was nice that it was after Halloween because the crowds were minimal. The kids had a good time but I am not sure that we will go again next year. They have made everything cost extra and I am not sure it is worth it anymore. We missed Emma too.

heber creeper

Some ideas are better than others. Going on the Heber Valley Railroad as a family sounded like a good idea. We were able to get a fantastic price through one of our homeschool groups. Dave took the day off work. We drove down beautiful Provo Canyon to Heber and were looking forward to the trip.

Now we can say we've done it and we never have to do it again. We weren't able to find seats together on the train. Our windows would not open so it was a little stuffy. The train got stopped for about half an hour to get something left on the track. When we got to Vivian Park, they wouldn't let us off so instead of a nice break at the park, we felt trapped on the train. There wasn't much to do but bug each other and take lots of random pictures with my camera.

Oh well. I tried.

taken by Emma

the lights at temple square

Since my mother cannot stand to just relax on vacation, she mobilized us into action to head up to Salt Lake. We gathered up warm winter gear, some snacks and the stroller and went to go to see the lights at Temple Square. We arrived right about 3:00 in the afternoon.

The first item on the agenda was to go to the children's exhibit at the Church History Museum to pass the time until it got dark.  Our plans were thwarted however as we found the doors locked due to "forecast inclement weather". It was a bit perplexing since there was a not a flake in the sky. Instead we went over to the North Visitors' Center. Anne, of course, wanted nothing to do with the stroller and kept running off. The boys were off gallivanting about also rather oblivious to the reverent nature of the surroundings. After we went upstairs to view the Christus statue, we tried to keep Anne occupied by finding all the animals in the paintings of Christ's life. After being told a movie would be playing at 5:30, we went downstairs only to find an empty theater, no movie and two missing sister missionaries.

Trying to keep five children in one general area was proving impossible. In fact, we lost Anne for a few frantic minutes until we found her holding the hand of a stranger. The scene was eerily familiar as I had been lost as a toddler on Temple Square too. I was found holding the hand of a stranger also but she was trying to lead me out of Temple Square altogether. I shudder to think of how my life could have played out had my parents been a few moments slower. Fortunately, the stranger with Anne seemed only to be searching for me.

We finally did watch Joy to the World which was definitely not riveting enough to keep the kids' attention. At this point, I was feeling rather defeated since nothing seemed to be turning out as planned. We persevered anyhow and went out to see the lights.

 

 

I think the kids found the lights a little underwhelming and we didn't stay out for very long. We coerced Slade to take a picture or two though before we left. The whole adventure was probably worth it just for this one snapshot. In twenty years we probably won't remember all the details of the chaos, the whiny children, or the thwarted plans. We'll just look at the picture and remember how adorable they all were and that Sawyer would never wear a coat!

the living planet

Yesterday, we took another field trip to The Living Planet aquarium. We enjoyed the new exhibits they've gotten since the last time we went. Some highlights:

--the Utah portion of the aquarium is rather boring but it does have this frog for a cute photo-op

--The sting rays are always a hit though Nathan was sad that he didn't actually get to touch one despite plunging his whole arm into the water. Anne cried every time we got near the sting ray pool because she wanted to play in the water. Finally, I let her splash her hand for a minute. Then I was sufficiently grossed out when she stuck her thumb in her mouth before I could wash it.

--We got to watch the sting rays, penguins and octopus get fed. The octopus was the most interesting. They put his food in a Mr. Potato Head because the octopus is a highly intelligent creature that likes to figure things out. They try to change things up for it to keep it interesting. This time the hatch was off, next time the hatch will be on, then they tape it up, etc.

--We learned that an octopus has no bones and can squeeze through an opening about the size of a quarter.

--The penguins were very playful and fun to watch.

--Emma and Slade were quite entertained by Anne at the shark tank. I guess she would get startled when one would swim by her at the glass.

this is still the place

We took a fieldtrip to This is the Place with our homeschool group on May 4. It was not a very spring-like day as far as weather goes but we bundled up and still had fun. After eating lunch we split up into groups. Emma went with the other group so we didn't see her again until the end.

In our group, we first went and did some chores. Sawyer proved to be a hard-worker--milking, beating the rug, and ironing. I guess I need to assign him some more chores at home.

Nathan proved that he is pretty handy with a plough. I guess it is time to finally put a garden in the back (ha!).

We also learned about making clothes from wool, petted a few goats and went to school in a one-room schoolhouse.

Finally we stopped off at the barber shop for a shave, some dental work and a little leeching. That barber sure was a jack of all trades.


I'm not sure that either my kids or myself truly understand what life would have been like as a pioneer, but I am thankful that we at least try and celebrate our heritage.