and Dancing

So dancing goes along with music.  And we like to do it around our house.  As I've been trying to choreograph for Grease, I've made asked my kids to learn stuff and let me see how it looks before I teach it to everyone.  Mostly they've been pretty gracious about the whole thing.  Last night I wanted to see what kind of moves we could do as partners.  Well, Whitley, who is my dancer, wasn't available.  So I had to go with the next best thing available... Stephen and Rhett.  Mind you, Stephen has very little lifting experience and though Rhett takes social dance at school, he's not used to being the girl.  To sum up this awesome experience let me just say....we laughed.  Till we cried.  We almost fell. We did fall.  We laughed... again till we cried.  We did things that were probably best not seen by those not of our gene pool.  Then we laughed some more.  In the end we came out with 4 whole 8 counts figured out and not a single lift was involved.  We'll have to wait for Whitley on that one.  Oh yah, and Nick was sitting back secretly videoing all our hilariousness.  That will go in to the vault.

Apparently Rhett had not had enough dancing so he went out and pulled up a song they dance to at school as their warm up.  It was very high energy.  Brooklyn does the same thing in her class so she joined in and then Bo couldn't keep his dancing feet still so he got up and tried to dance along.  Katy would have, but she was naked and wrapped in a towel.  It was fun to see them together and enjoying music and dance as much as I do.  And btw... we wear shirts at our house, this is a rarity.  

Music

I know I've posted before about my attachment to music, but I'm feeling it again.  I love music.  Almost all kinds of music.  I truly believe that life would be more fun if every situation had a song playing in the background, just like in the movies.  Lots of times I will hear a song and immediately want to watch the movie it came from.  Then there are times when a song will remind me of a situation or person that I relate to it for whatever reason.  This weekend seemed to be a music filled, memory loaded one.  So I decided I'd share some of my treasures.

Breakeven - This song was on the radio and fairly new when Chelsey and I were driving up to Flagstaff to get her set up for school.  When I hear it, I think of her and that fun time we spent together.

A Thousand Years - This is a newer memory.  Rhett sang it for an audition and if you recall a previous post about it, I wanted to "punch him in the face".  He sang it so beautifully standing right here in my office.  I like to tease him about it being our song.  He thinks it's creepy, but I love it.

Cruise - This is the song that makes me think of Stephen.  The lyrics say something like "make me wanna roll my windows down and cruise".  He loves it.  One day in the car he expressed his love for it and sang very energetically as we drove along.  Now when I hear it, I think of him with a smile.  I can't not mention Shania's song "Feel like a Woman".  When Stephen was very little he would sing that one with all the enthusiasm he could muster.  We still like to remind him of it. :)

When I think about Angels - This one is for Whitley.  When she was very little, like 8 maybe, this song came on and I sang it to her as we were driving.  She sat in the seat next to me with the goofiest, cutest grin every time I would point at her  while singing "when I think about angels, I think about YOU!".

Some Nights - This is also a new one.  I'm not sure I can ever again listen to this one without seeing Dalin crooning out the lyrics while putting every ounce of energy and emotion into it during his audition.  Oh how I wish I had a video of that!  There are no words.

Glade, of course, has so many I can't even begin to mention, but maybe I will just a few.  Different songs all with a "situation" attached.  Unchained Melody, Still the One, Feels so Right, Far Away, Keeper of the Stars, Take it on the Run... the list is long. ♥

This weekend I heard No Parking on the Dance floor and flashed back to a lip sync we did and used the beginning of that song  to start it.  Fun times!

If I hear Arms of the Angel I remember a sad time where I decided to have some alone time and take a bath with candles and music and this song was perfect for the setting and took me away for just a moment.

Abide with me tis Eventide came on during an especially emotional day when I couldn't stop crying and gave me the peace I longed for, even for just a minute.

Be Still My Soul - This played as our sweet sister Joy passed away.  Absolute tender mercy.

I could go on and on about all the songs that have touched me or bring back sweet feelings and memories.  Life should be a musical!

My Weekend Alone

This weekend was a new experience for me.  We had a mini family reunion in Utah.  We also had our first rehearsal for Grease in which I was in charge of almost all the choreography that day.  I wrestled with how to handle the two conflicting events and in the end decided to stay home while Glade took the kids to Utah.  This was not the popular decision, but it's what I felt was best.  I kept Stephen and  Rhett home with me as well, since it was stuff they needed to learn and Stephen had to work.  Turned out to be good because Rhett also came down with a fever Friday night.

I've always dreamed of what it would be like to have my family go away and me stay at home, all that I could get done!!  Well, let me tell you about how it really went.

Friday

I spent the morning trying to get everyone ready and out the door on their way to Utah.  It was a little chaotic and kinda stressful.  Whitley and fiance Nick were going to drive the RV with the kids and Glade would catch up with them in his truck after his meetings.  To make a long story short, if it weren't for my "mom skills" at checking and double checking, they would have left without Whitley's jacket and wallet, a bag of food, the cooler with all the drinks and all of Katy's clothes.  This was all discovered after they were all buckled in and engine revved up.  Yikes.  I spent the rest of the day with Mom and  Chelsey, that was nice.

Once I picked up Rhett, I realized he had a fever.  Gave him some medicine and chilled at home for awhile.  Stephen worked till 7 so we waited for him and then went to dinner.  Mom joined us at Red Robin and we had a nice night out together.  I really love those boys.  Not only do I love them, I really like them as well.

Saturday

Woke up and finished the choreography I needed to teach that day, went to rehearsal and then to pick up and deliver the pizzas Rhett had to sell to pay for his tux for choir.  By the time all that was done, it was 2:30 and I was really ready for a nap.  So I took one!  Stephen had to get to work at 4 so that left Rhett and me all alone the rest of the night.  After I woke up, I went out to try and encourage Rhett to do something with me, but he didn't want to do anything but play video games and watch videos about the video game he was playing.  I said ... NO.  He still had a slight fever so I let him off the hook of doing something with me.  I scanned through Netflix looking for something to watch.  Netflix is either set up poorly or I don't know how to use it.  They only give you about 15 movies per "category".  Turns out there are a ton more movies, but unless you specifically search it out, you can't see it.  I just want to see ALL the movies you have available and pick one.  So after a lame attempt at watching old SNL clips and disagreeing on what to watch with Rhett, I would type one letter in the search and see what 20 movies they would show me.  I wanted Christmas and he wanted Yugioh.  Finally, I came across a movie I had been wanting to see for a really long time.  I actually look for it every time I go to Goodwill.  Who knew it was right there on Netflix!  Anyway, it's called Heart and Soul.  About half way into it, we decided to eat dinner and then went to get froyo.  We stopped in to say hi to Stephen and then back home to finish the movie.

There's my exciting report on my weekend alone.  What I learned is this: being alone is boring.  I had no desire to do a single project because I could read a book or watch Everybody Loves Raymond and no one cared.  I didn't do dishes the whole weekend!  The upside, I could take a nap whenever I wanted.  Didn't matter what time it was cuz I wasn't responsible to anyone!  I could eat when I wanted, go when I wanted and do nothing when I wanted.  That was kinda cool.  In the end my final conclusion is that I miss my family and even a midst the chaos and craziness, I still really like them being around. ♥

Grease

It's that time again!!  When isn't it that time again?  We just went through another round of auditions, this time for the high school version of Grease.  What that means is that they've cleaned it up and tried to make it appropriate for families.  Still a terrible story line, but SO fun at the same time.  I was slated to Ast. Direct, but am now doing choreography.  I'm super excited and very nervous at the same time.  The music is to die for and this time the cast is all kids between 13 and 18.  In the past I've mainly worked with littler kids and big groups of all ages.  I'm hoping we can do some really fun stuff with this.  Choreography is not a natural skill for me and it's a little stressful getting it all figured out, but then it's totally fun dancing it and teaching the kids.  I'm hoping to come up with good stuff to add to the show, did I mention I'm a little nervous?  Well, it's what I have to do and I'm just going to tackle it and do the best I can!

All of my older children auditioned except Whitley, since she's getting married and all.  It's a heartbreaking experience to go through auditions and not have places for everyone.  There are always tears involved.  Though Dalin is only 12, they made an exception so he wouldn't have to miss mutual and because we needed boys, so he is part of the ensemble as well as Brooklyn and Rhett.  Rhett is so frustrating because he has so much talent but refuses to put it out there.  It's most maddening because I would give anything to have his running and performing talents and he barely cares.  But anyway, he's a great ensemble person, just has the ability to do more.  Maybe one day he'll see what he could do and give some true effort.  Stephen got the part of Sonny, one of the T-Birds.  He's so great on stage, just struggles a little vocally.

We had our first rehearsal and on Saturday we start dancing.  Should be fun!!

Bo and Katy are both in the children's play 101 Dalmatians.  They are, of course, dalmatians!

Joy

It's that moment when you realize how incredibly BLESSED you are.  The moment when your heart is so filled with love that the only way to make room for it all is through the release of salty tears that streak down your cheeks.  This is what happened in my living room tonight.  Nick was ordained to the Melchizedek priesthood tonight.  That is a big step for him and one that he sought out and pushed for.  When asked by our Bishop what this means to him or why he wanted to take this step, my son of few words said very little but did say "that it can help me get closer to my mission".  Those are words he hasn't spoken in a long time.  He's been very open about not wanting to go on a mission.  He's gotten himself in a good place recently, but for him to say those words, was just awesome.  Then as I looked around my family room filled with extended family and my entire immediate family, it was just too much.  The tears came.

I've always had a little sore spot about not having any pioneer heritage.  I'm jealous when people talk about there ancestors who crossed the plains.  For some reason the pioneer life has always had a draw for me.  Don't get me wrong, I LOVE my family!!  Please don't misconstrue my desire for pioneer heritage as anything but a love for the pioneers.  For their love of the Lord and willingness to sacrifice it all for him.  In some small way, I am a pioneer in the Gospel for my children and posterity.  I'm just so grateful for each one of these wonderful and amazing children I have been given.  And now to add in-laws and grandbabies to the bunch is just truly beautiful!  

Katy

Life is never dull with this 6 year old around.  She started full days of school this last week and it has been tough!  She started a new school at the same time so she blames it on the school, not that she was still taking naps many days of the week and now is at school for 7 hours.  She comes home really whiny and it's all I can do to be nice to her.  But she's made friends and even has a new crush named Drew.  He's cute with dimples and she really likes to look at him.  She has lost her first tooth thanks to a corn dog, started taking piano lessons and will start back up with dance next week.  Busy little girl.

When we left for a weekend away several months ago, Katy had a complete meltdown when I left.  Sobbing kind of meltdown.  Weird.  Since then she freaks out every time I leave.  Like makes me start to cry cuz I feel so bad about how sincerely sad she is.  In the recent past she has gotten much better but has started a new routine.  Anytime we leave, or anyone for that matter, she will drop whatever she is doing.. I mean whatever.. and will go stand out on the front porch to wave and blow kisses.  Occasionally it's even happened that I told her I was leaving then got distracted and left her standing there waiting for quite some time.  One time I forgot to wave and kiss back and she turned around slumped and crying retreating back to the house.  When I remembered, I honked the horn, blew her a kiss and then all was well.  I hope she grows out of this soon, although I really don't mind the sendoff. ♥

Katy is cute and sassy (in a good way) and such an amazing little girl.  She is very afraid of discipline and is very sure to follow directions.  Plus,  she'll let you know if anyone else isn't.  She never gets in trouble at school and I can talk her out of a tantrum pretty easily by explaining the consequences and how her behavior is going to lead to an unhappy ending.  She can be very reasonable and again, does NOT like to be disciplined. Once when she was crying on the ride home, Glade had pulled over to help someone and before he got back on the road, made a motion with his hand for her to get out.  She immediately stopped crying.  When we pulled over again to help the same car, she climbed up front with me and said "you know I couldn't walk home, I don't know the way."  So she was able to reason that out and know that not to cry was her only option.  I couldn't exactly tell her we would never make her walk home, that would ruin the threat!   She's very smart and has an uncanny sense of direction.  She can recognize places we've only been once or roads we have barely traveled and tell us where we are.  Most of all this little sweety likes to take pictures.  LOTS of pictures.  My camera on my phone is constantly renewed with self portraits of  herself.  Sometimes it's just an eye or an ear or some silly face and others it's video after video of her explaining the world according to her.  Absolutely priceless.  She is the perfect caboose to my train! ♥

If someone told you to jump off a cliff, would you??

If someone told you to jump off a cliff, would you??

Apparently for Nick, the answer would be YES.  While at the beach this summer, a few of the other boys who were with us started jumping from high places.  Nick held off for a while but could eventually not resist.  The first time he did it, I was unaware.  I was told he did it and landed right on his belly.  When he came over to where I was, I said these exact words to him "I'm not taking you home broken!!".  Well he went right back up and did it again.  I was actually trying to get a picture of the cliff to send to Glade and tell him what Nick had done when I realized he was up there again.  I take responsibility for not yelling for him to get down immediately.  Not that I'm sure it would have done any good, he didn't even hesitate up there before he lept off again.  I tried to at least get a picture since my phone was up already, but he did it so fast I only got him landing.  According to other witnesses and the video he has of this stunt it was a pretty sweet flip.

But then came the landing.  In the video you can hear it crunch.  Then the hulk growl started as he realized the pain.  His ankle was in a very unnatural position and I couldn't look.  Luckily for me the other kids Dad was there and took charge.  They helped him up to camp where a lifeguard wrapped him up and put ice on it then made us sign a release.  I then took him to urgent care where they said they really couldn't help us.  It was too bad for what they could do.  So we headed back to camp with some fresh ice packs.

Again, luckily for me...our friends were heading home that same day.  We weren't supposed to leave till the next day.  So they drove him home and Glade took care of it once he got there.  The same doc that took care of  Rhett's arm agreed to see him the next day so we were able to escape the emergency room bill.

In the end, he ended up with surgery ten days after the incident, 2 metal plates and lots of screws.  Two nice scars on both sides of his ankle and another 3 months with crutches.  His ankle will probably never be the same and they said he will eventually develop arthritis in his ankle.  Oh, the choices we make.

Brynlee Lynn

Brynlee Lynn Hon

6lbs 11 oz

20 in

July 26, 2013

I will keep the story somewhat short and sweet.  If you want a full account, you can go to Chelsey's blog 

HERE

In summation, she went to a routine weekly appt where she was found to have really high blood pressure.  They sent her to the hospital for more testing where she was then admitted to be induced.  Surprise!  You're having a baby TODAY!  Well actually it was the next day, the induction took awhile.  But after about 24 full hours of being in labor, she gave birth to sweet little Brynlee.

 

 I was able to be with her from start to finish.  It's really a whole different experience watching your own child go through it.  I absolutely loved being there.  I'm sure Spencer wanted to shoo me away sometimes, I had a hard time remembering this wasn't MY child. ♥  She did great and I was SO proud of how she handled it all.  One tough cookie.  Love you tons Chels.

Because she was much smaller than what we were expecting, Glade and I, Mom and a couple of our friends got to go shopping on our date night to go find her something to wear home.  We had about 4 different outfits picked out including the yellow one but I was the only one who thought that's the one she would like.  I decided to send her a pic of all four outfits and she chose the yellow!  I know my girl.  Brynlee began to be jaundiced so she had to stay an extra day which was devastating to Chelsey, but the hospital was wonderful and gave Chelsey a "nesting" room so she could stay as well.  She spent 24 hours under the lights and then was finally released!  What fun to help pack them all into their car and watch them drive away with their new little family.

Chelsey struggled the first week or so trying to figure out the whole nursing thing.  I tried to help as much as possible but it's hard when you have a family still at home that needs you. Luckily my Mom is close by her and has been an absolute angel for Chelsey.  We texted a lot and I spent a whole day there trying to help her out and finally I think things have mostly settled into a routine and they both have it figured out.  My baby is a Mommy.

Remember Christmas in June...

When Whitley and I tp'd Nick's house, I had no idea we were leading up to this

This engagement was not your typical one.  There was a slight snag in actually getting the ring so we knew they were engaged, had set a date and gotten a dress before she even had a ring on her finger.  All technicalities.  She is a giddy kind of happy and will be sealed in the temple to Nick Crawford on  October 4, 2013.  Now she's completely useless in a "head in the clouds, can't focus on anything but being married" kind of way.  She's finally found her "Once Upon a Time". ♥

Jump Right In

So I haven't blogged for a few months.  How in the world do you start up again?  Go back from the last post and try to catch up in chronological order?  Skip the last few months and just start where I am?  It's all a little overwhelming so I decided to just start where I am and try to catch up with the past intermittently.  Still overwhelming.  Lesson: Don't procrastinate!  So I'm not going to try to tell about all the things we DID, just with what we have going on right now.  So here goes.

This last week was my first week with my kids in school.  Both schools got delayed due to construction so Stephen has been the only one in school.  It was quite the wait!  Now, I'm sure you're thinking it's because I just wanted my time and space back and that my kids were making me nuts.  Well, you are partially right, BUT...they wanted to go back.  I can't tell you how many times they whined about wanting to go back to school.  One night, on the way home from a friends house, Bo randomly whimpers "I just want to go back to school!".  So when they are unhappy and bored, we're all unhappy.  This is the first time I've ever had all my kids in school for the whole time as well.  It wasn't quite the week I had anticipated, but I can see lots of potential.

So my days are filled with trying to get my house caught up (we really let it go this summer), trying to become a runner again and doing paperwork.  Fun stuff!  I'm making progress in all areas but still have a long way to go.  It's still extremely hot outside so running isn't really anything I can take too seriously right now, but I'm trying little bits at a time.

Glade is traveling a lot since their new business merger.  By a lot I mean a couple times a month for a day or two.  More than I'm used to and I can't say I really enjoy it.  He says next year he'll have earned a lot of free flights and maybe I can start coming with him here and there.

So I guess I'll try to start catching up with easy and important posts first.  Maybe once I get some momentum going I won't dread it so much!  To all my blogging buddies, if I can do it... so can you!  Get blogging!