To my Dad

Reasons why I am grateful to be your daughter:

You taught me the importance of looking people in the eyes. That when you do that, they will respect you for respecting them.

You taught me that being a girl doesn’t mean I can only do “girl” things.

          Our first of many charity walk/hikes

Thank you for teaching me how to hike and fish. To throw a ball and not be afraid to catch one. For coming to all my Karate tournaments and being the most embarrassing/loud Dad out there. Thank you for being so proud of me no matter what I was doing. Except for letting me raid your closet that year in High School. You should have stopped me. But you didn’t. You just asked if I needed your belt to go with your pants and shirt.

                        

Thank you for always listening to me.

You showed me how to listen to others and really look at things from both sides. ( My Hubby gets annoyed that even if I agree with what he is saying I can always find another alternative. But, deep down he loves it. I think.)

I learned that the open road is your adventure waiting to happen. That Disneyland was fun, but had nothing on hiking the Grand Canyon for the first time when I was 8 years old with you leading the way.

                         No, we did not hike the Grand Canyon dressed like that. Those were our looking good for the camera, fanny pack included, outfits.

You taught me that even though not everyone is perfect, we are all deserving of forgiveness. Weather that lesson was intentional or not, it is invaluable.

Thank you for all the mornings I would wake up and find funny and sometimes sweet notes from you hanging from my door by a piece of string. Even when I became a surly teenager and that door was locked, there was still a note.

                             

I learned that a Dad is the fastest, strongest, smartest, funniest, most embarrassing, giving, understanding, accepting person a little girl will know. And that she will grow up to finally fully understand and appreciate all these things and hope her Dad knows that she feels this way.

                            

I love you Dad. Thanks for being my teacher and for all the life lessons you taught me.

                                    

A Father Indeed

“wax and booby”

Wow, if I didn’t lose you after that title you have proven yourself desperate to read my blog!

Just kidding.

No I’m not.

Anyway, we have been enjoying a lot of things thus far this summer. Free activities being the key to all of our motivation to staying active during the sweltering heat of Az. One of them being the summer reading program that the library runs.

We are active/financial-supporters-because-we –always-have-late-late-late-books-which-result-in-over-due-fines patrons at our local branch. We are there at least 3 times a week and enjoy all the programs they have to offer.

The summer reading program lets the kiddos track their reading and collect prizes along the way. When they finish the required amount they get a FREE book. So they all zoomed through to get the free book.

Gwen chose Max and Ruby. Or as the entire population of Az that has even somewhat decent hearing, “I love my Wax and Booby book! I love Wax and Booby!”

Fun for all.Yeah me. 

                                             

12

To my dearest hubby........Thank you for making me your wife 12 years ago. There are times when it has flown by. And times when we have had to dig trenches and get through the battle. You have helped me to know who I am and where I want to be. You put into my life four of the most amazing people I know and have taken me to the Temple so that we can be together forever. Thank you for being the husband that I need and the friend that I always wanted. You have always been there for our marriage.
You looked across the alter and into my eyes not that long ago.
And every morning and night when I say my prayers, I thank Heavenly Father for sending me my knight in shinning armor.
And although your armor may have a few dings and scratches and might not be as shiny as it was then, you will always be my hero.

I not only love you. I adore you.

Photo contest

This picture I took of Bubs just got accepted into photo contest!

It is a supposed to be a contest for photos of classic cars. I wasn't too sure on weather or not I should enter it, but thought " what do I have to lose? " So, all of you out there that I have email address's for....beware! I am going to be sending out emails for votes after Sunday!

Belated birthday wishes

Dear Drew,

In honor of your 11 years as my son, I am sending you 11 wishes.

1. I wish that you could see yourself through my eyes. You are a boy that has many talents. One is melting his mothers heart.               

2. Stay kind.

Your kindness will open doors for you and allow you to get close to people that would otherwise shut anyone else out.  Your tender heart is a sign of your true spirit. I am glad I get to see it.

3. I wish for you to know that being the big brother is something only YOU can be. 

You were sent here first for a reason.There will be times when you will have to pull them up by their bootstraps and be the strong one in the group. It will take them awhile to be thankful for you watching over them like you do, but they will thank you. Believe me.

                                                                 Like in this photo. They looked like they were having a good time at the bar. But big brother knew that appearances can be deceiving and quickly took baby Sis into his arms and into safety.

4. I wish that you could see how smart you are. Not only with academics, but with the gospel. You always have the answer I am looking for.

                                Your love of learning will take you far.  You have so much to offer with your intelligence and witty insight. If you fill your heart and mind with the wisdom of the Lord your capacity for learning and sharing that knowledge with others, will be limitless.

 

4. I pray that you will learn the value of hard work. This does not come easy for you and it will be difficult at times. But you have great men in your life that are the ultimate examples of hard workers and dedication. I know we are tuff on you sometimes, but it is because we can see your great potential. 

5. I hope you keep your goofy sense of humor. You have such a funny way of looking at things and can find the humor in almost anything.

Like when I let you be the photographer for the night at Sis’s choir concert and I ended up with a ton of you posing with friends making funny faces and not a single one of Sis. You thought that was pretty hilarious.

 

And how you can laugh so hard at silly animal pictures that you can hardly catch your breath and we all end up laughing too.

                                      

 

Especially how you love to turn ordinary objects into props. You do this a lot. And it is always funny.

 

 

 

6. I wish that you will be able to find true happiness.

It’s hard to find. But it’s out there and you have already taken the first step in finding it by being baptized. Keep on this path of righteousness and you will find true 

                      

                                  happiness.

7. I wish for you to keep your desire to serve the Lord.

 

                                              

8. I wish that you will always love Star Wars as much as you do. There is a lot to learn from Star Wars.

1. Listen to your parents Jedi trainer. They know what's best.

                                        

2. Using the gospel  force for good, makes a good missionary  Padawan.

3. Good will prevail.

4. Don’t run with your light saber on.

                                               

5. That being the hero takes help from everyone around you.                                                        

But please please please please please DON’T take it this far.

                                              

Although you probably will.

 

9. I wish that you will continue to develope your love of a good book. Books are the cheapest way to travel. But above all others, learn to love the scriptures. They will take you to wherever you need to go and will always have the answer. You just have to be willing to find it.

                                              

10.  Be a good friend. The value of friendship is priceless.                           

Being good to those around you is a talent that you have. You make all the old ladies swoon with your chivalry. And one day you will make a special someone swoon. Blech! I know. I had to say it.

 

 

11. Last but not least. I wish for you to always know how much Dad and I love you. You were the first child to make me a mother. The first child to make Dad a father. Our first son.

                    Thank you.

I miss my sis

 

It is still funny thinking about you being away at college. For some reason in my mind you will always be the little 7 year old who bravely came to live with her big sis 2,000 miles away from home.

You came because I cried every day from being homesick.

You packed your little bag and Mom sent you off to stay with me.

You didn’t cry once.

Later we used to laugh that it was because you didn’t miss Mom and Dad, but I know it was because just you loved me that much.

You happily slept on that bed Andrew brought home for you, and had scripture study with us every night.

Andrew also gave you whatever you asked for and did things with you he still won’t do with our own kids.

You were also there to hold Drew when he was born. Seeing you and Mom hold in him in your arms was priceless.

It’s funny how it took me getting married and moving that far away for to me realize how much I still needed my family.

That one, brave little girl, could bring more than her small suitcase of belongings. That she could also bring me the peace and contentment that I had been searching for.

Your selfless example at such a young age deeply and forever touched my heart. Your willing sacrifice was truly the light of Christ shining through you. 

And that is why I think you will always be that little 7 year old in my mind.

Many will call you friend.

Few are privileged to call you sister.

Thank you for being my friend and my sister.

 

The stars aligned

This is actually the morning after he lost his first tooth. And as you can see by the fact that he is holding his tooth in his hand, the tooth fairy failed to make an appearance.

Um.Ooops.

So, needless to say at 5:30 am, when this anxious 6 year old woke up this morning to see our special tooth jar still holding his tooth, he was pretty confused.

After all, hadn't he resisted even the slightest wiggling by his mother “who is infamous for not being able to leave loose and wiggly teeth alone because they call her name every time she looks at said wiggly tooth”?

I mean the fact that this kid REFUSED to brush his bottom teeth which resulted in even more botheringness (my own word, kthanks) to his mother compounded by the fact that the thing was completely horizontal, meant that it HAD to go. ASAP.

My plan was to just grab him, hold him down and have at it. But my inner voice that is known to some as a conscience, and that I typically try to stay in fine tune with, unfortunately said that this would permanently scar him. Then he would become even more terrified about losing teeth than he already is and would be content to walk around with a mouth full of wiggly crooked teeth.

I get the shivers and all twitchy even thinking about it. But to my great and exasperated relief, a miracle occurred at In’n Out Burger the previous night. The thing literally fell out of his mouth while he was talking. I only happened to have had my hand in his mouth trying to wiggle it, but that is a minor detail. The more important thing is that it is out.

I was so happy I even thought about having this done to the darn tooth. But thought better of it. I mean I would have to then do it to ALL my kids to teeth so no one would feel left out.

umkay. no.

Sometimes I feel like making one of these though. I am short a couple of heads to twist off and string onto a beaded necklace/trophy. So for now my children are allowed to live.

Back to the tooth fairy’s failure to materialize and fork out the dough.

I quickly realized at the same time Bubbs was lamenting over this delinquency on the T.F.’s part, that I hadn’t even taken any pictures of my boy’s first ever lost tooth!

I told him “The T.F. had purposely left the tooth there so mommy could take a picture since I forgot to the night before” To which he gave a huge sigh and said

“That’s what I thought.I’ll go get your camera! Your the best mommy in the world!”

I added the last part in my head.But it looks as though the stars aligned for me this time around. Although I was looking forward to getting that “Worst Mommy on the face of the Earth” award in the mail.

Oh, well. There will be another time. I’m sure of it.

The final countdown

This is the face of a boy who just lost for the last time. Therefore disqualifying him to continue onto the final round. This year they ran the race a little differently and you only had 1 chance to qualify. One loss, your out.
I was happy with the fact that it took less than 45 minutes to run an entire race for 20 or so cub scouts.
I was a little disappointed with them only getting to race one 1-2 times unless you won. But they left the track up for a long time afterward so all the boys could do their own races. That was the fun part. Watching them grab their cars at the end of the track and running like mad to do it again before the slots filled up. I am glad he has learned to be a good sport through it all. Taking his loss for what it is and for cheering on the ones who did win.
I am not one of those parents that thinks everyone who participates is a winner.
That, by the shear fact of showing up to something negates all the hard work others put into playing and actually winning. If you win every time, you have nothing to work towards.
Why try hard, or harder, if you get the award at the end just the same.
Losing is hard. It is hard watching your kid that you would stand in front of an on coming car for, be hurt by something you can't protect them from.
I tried that.
My son, like I've said is a thinker. He likes to know the ins and outs, the hows and whys of things.
A moving ball coming right at your face, no matter how big or small, does not compute with his rationalizing brain. Plus, your arms and feet have to move in sinc and that is just not happening with him.
His strengths will sometimes be less obvious and a little irritating ( like when he is at the dentist and she can hardly clean his teeth for all the questions he is continually asking). But he will know the answers that no one else does. And has the desire to eat up words and knowledge like he is starving.


I was a little too over-protective and stood in the way of him learning through his shortcomings.
Like when he was a kid, I signed him up for baseball and soccer.
It wasn't a pretty picture.
He was his own worst enemy.
That and the fact that by the age of 6 these kids were pros.
So, I stood in the way.
I tried to protect my child from embarrassment and hurt feelings.
While I taught him that I would always be there to protect him, I was also teaching him that he wasn't "good" enough to play sports, or that he shouldn't even try. To which I am paying dearly, as the kid won't even go outside when all the neighborhood kids play baseball. ( He will however till his sister so she can go play.)
Not at all my intention.
So, even though he really really wanted to win his last pinewood derby, by stepping back and allowing his failure, I also allowed him to know what it was like to want to win.

And hopefully that small lesson will help him in this race of life we are all in.

The many faces of Easter

We took Drew out to the movies the Saturday night before Easter, so my little sis came over and dyed eggs with the rest of my kiddos. The pictures are her fine art work. You can tell she is a document/photographer like myself. It drives my hubby nuts that I have to take so MANY photos EVERYWHERE we go. But I always tell him that from those 1,000's you get one that is truly amazing. So, thank you Anna for 1,000's of photos from your night of egg dying.

These are the many faces of William. Long after everyone else lost interest, he stuck around. Anna calls him her little buddy. There have been many tears shed by this little guy since Anna went back to school.
He says he " Just misses her so much it makes his tears"

"Bassetball" (aka: basketball)

( the title is how Bubbs says basketball)

Looking at this photo makes me realize what a big world it is that he faces.
There he is in his too big yellow shirt, marching onto the court with his head held high.
I missed out on a lot of things in my lifetime because of fear.
Fear of the unknown.
Fear of making a mistake.
Fear of not being perfect.
But looking at this, I have realized that no matter how small you are and how big the world is,
just go out with your head held high and have no fear.
And I am pretty sure that with a great big yellow #8 shirt, that we ALL could do anything we set out to do.
I am sooo proud of you Bubbs. You faced that great big court and played a great game. My Dad always said " If you come home tired, than you tried your hardest. So, come home tired."
You fell asleep before we pulled out of the parking lot.
Good game Bubbs.
Good game.

And the award goes to.....

Sis and Brenna for not only most runs down the hill.......
but for making it look this fun.
I hope that their fearlessness lasts them a lifetime.
They definitely earned the award for:
Best jumps
Most runs
Showing up all the boys
and
Being so darn cute while sledding.

Spring Break observations

Drew is the professor.
In this photo he looks like the evil professor.
"This is my creation....if all goes as planned it will blow up as soon as it senses girls nearby. Especially sister girls......Bwhahaha!"
Everywhere we went he was the first to build something. Including the nice leftover lump Gwenna is sitting on in photo below.

We called her the observer.
Sometimes it is more fun to play it safe and watch everyone else ( well, only me the Mom,)
gets hurt, and snow burns, and soggy wet. I did eventually trick her into going down the hill with me and Bubbs and ended up in a head-knocking-teeth-jarring-is anyone bleeding crash. I, or mostly my head, took the brunt of it. No regrets though. Having pain in this instance was soo worth the pleasure.

We called him the pro. He had the shoulder tilt action. He could maneuver back onto the track, around a tree, and use his feet to brake, all for the perfect 10 landings. He is a boy of few words but great actions.

We called them stupid. ( the ones on the bottom) Others called them the best Dads in the world.

At the end of the day this is what it was all about.


A special thank you to the Taylor's who are one of the few people that can get my hubby to laugh a belly laugh.
Thank you.