Family Pics by the Tree

It's that time again!!  Yep, dress 'em up, shove 'em all in a tight group and force 'em to act like they love each other.  Isn't that how everyone does family pictures??  We have 8 am church now so when I woke them up early to make sure everyone was ready by 7:15, not everyone was so happy.  We also had to practice our song for today so it was a busy morning.  I even got our cards ordered and can pick them up tomorrow.  I didn't post that picture, cuz that wouldn't be any fun at all!  So here are the fruits of our labors.

As for our singing in church, well... we did it.  From where I was standing, it sounded pretty bad.  Maybe I could just hear myself, I don't know.  But I'm pretty sure since we messed up the lyrics in the same spot on both verses, it wasn't that great of a performance.  Now, everyone was certainly smiling at us as we sang so we at least brought joy to those before us.  (even if it was in the form of comic relief)  We, of course, received many compliments after about how well we did.  My favorite and most accurate was this : I felt the Spirit of it!  Thanks Steph, for being honest! ♥  I also got the : Is that YOUR whole family, what did I count.. NINE??  I think we can rest assured that we won't be called on to sing in sacrament for awhile now.

We're Singing in Church

Blech!! How does one like me, a non singer, end up in a family full of them??  Am I supposed to go up there and smile and lipsync.. all along knowing that everyone watching KNOWS I'm lipsyncing??  Or do I lend my offkey voice to that of my family and prove to everyone just why I should be lipsyncing??  OR, do I just stay put in my seat and watch the entire rest of my family perform a beautiful number?  Why did I not get this gift, even just a smidge??  I knew I should have learned sign language or practiced harder on the flute.  Did  I mention... Blech!!!!?

Turkey Trot 2011

As per tradition, we awoke early Thanksgiving day and headed out for the annual 10k Turkey Trot.  We have come to make it a family event where everyone runs something.  Even Mom walked the whole 10k with us.  Bo, Katy and Chelsey all did the 2 mile this year.  The rest did the whole 6.2 miles.  Aside from Stephen who is still injured from his fall at the Grand Canyon.  Did I ever blog about that?  Anyway, he stayed and watched the little ones at the park while the rest of us ran. 

It was a beautiful day for running!  Only slightly chilly with total cloud cover.  You can't know what having no sunshine does for me.  I hadn't prepared as much as I had wanted, so I wasn't looking for my best time this year.  I did however, want to beat Glade.  Ongoing competitiveness.  I know.  Anyway, Mom and I got stuck in the line for the bathroom so we didn't start the race until everyone had already taken off.  I found I actually like that.  Instead of people passing me, I was doing all of the passing.  I'm pretty sure I passed over a thousand people. I say that because I did better than about 1300 people in the race and since I started last, that only makes sense!  I ran the best I could, I really did.  I couldn't have pushed much harder.  I kept telling myself that it's only temporary, it's just one race.  You can do it!!  I came in at 1:01:30.  I was really happy with that, I thought I could do at least an hour and four minutes so this was good.  Now, to find out how Glade did.  I knew it would be close, but only 22 seconds apart?  Seriously?  I had to admit defeat.  Just one less drink of water, maybe a little more sprint at the end.  You can find a lot of things that would have made you 22 seconds faster!

The only real killer thing here was that Dalin beat Glade by 11 seconds.  Awesome!  He had been on the treadmill regularly training.  I was really proud of him.  The best part of the whole day is watching all your friends and family cross the finish line or to see them cheering for you as you finish.  It's become one of our favorite things to do and a big part of that is how many of our friends bring their families as well.  It really is a perfect was to start the day!

Dalin, Rhett, Nick and our good friend Jake.

 

Chelsey, Bo and Katy waiting to start the two mile

Our Family times:

Rhett      47:40  he beat the turkey on the home stretch

Nick      57:48  Not bad for a kid  who spent no time training

Dalin    1:00:57  PR

Glade   1:01: 08  PR

Laurie  1:01:30

Whitley 1:12:23  PR

Mom    1:27:32

Brooklyn 1:30:21  beat her time by several minutes of last year

I have a testimony of .... lugies?

In our church, the first Sunday of the month is what we call Fast and Testimony week.  We each fast for whatever reasons we choose and then for sacrament meeting, we share testimonies with each other.  Anyone is allowed to come to the stand and share the feelings of their heart in regards to the Gospel.  Today was that day.  My kids love to get up and bear their testimonies.  After a few too many "rote" testimonies, we told them that unless they actually had something they wanted to share, they needed to let the time be left for others.  Today Dalin asked if he could go up.  I always cringe just slightly because you just never know what will come out.

Dalin is probably my most nerve inducing.  He likes to think outside the box and say things that he has learned somewhere along the line.  Most of the time, he is accurate in what he "knows to be true" but other times, you shake your head a little and think "oh my.."  So when he stood today, I sat on the edge of my seat waiting to see how it would go.  This is how it went:

Dalin steps to the microphone, leans in close and says "Hi, my name is Dalin Smith... pause...*then it happened*  he intended to clear his throat and what came out instead was a big hacking, nasty sounding noise, full with tongue out and everything, right into the microphone.  Oh sheesh....  He then says "sorry" with a slight smile and begins his testimony.  It was very short and very simple... "I know that if we hold to the iron rod.. *pause..lip tremble.. eyes well up.. look to mom for support... voice shaky...* we can have eternal life"  He then wiped his tears, ended his testimony and came to sit with his now crying mother who could only give him a long squeeze of the hand to let him know how proud I was of him.  Lugie and all. 

Addicted to - Need?

I'm sure this will be a really rambly, all over the place kind of post.  After a very long day of Glee, School Carnival and an early morning parade, I just wanted to go to bed.  I was there, 9:15.. kids tucked in or at least sent that direction, blankets up to my chin, brain settling... "Mommy..."  No!  I'm sleeping, or at least about to be.  Go back to bed!  What???  No, I didn't say any of that, those were just my actual thoughts.  I nicely said "What honey?"  Then a very sad, lip trembling little 4 year old comes to my bedside and tries to tell me why she is upset between her choked back sobs as she tries to not cry.  Bo won't hold her hand.  She can't go to sleep if Bo won't hold her hand.  I pat the bed next to me and she climbs up and snuggles in.  As she lays there, I see her clenching her fists and whispering something.  I ask her what she said and she replies "I'm just talking to myself."  I ask her what she is telling herself and she says this "Don't cry, you're alright!"  I hold her tighter and she takes a deep breath and relaxes.

Is it possible to be addicted to this?  By this, I think I mean the feeling of being needed.  Not just needed, but being the ONE.  The only one who really makes it all better?  I'm having a little anxiety about that as I watch her and Bo grow older and become independent and logical.  What happens when there's no little ones to climb in bed and need you anymore??  I know my big kids still need me and I feel that special bond only a mother knows often with them, but it's different.  They have figured out that I'm not perfect.  Katy and Bo are the only ones left who don't know that yet.  They don't know that kisses really don't make it better or that I've gained 15 lbs this year or that I'm totally making stuff up when they ask me hard questions.


As I lay there holding Katy, my heart actually ached thinking about losing these moments.  She's about to be five.  Five!!  Sure lots of other things have gotten easier as they get older and I have more freedom, I realize that, but how can I just not have these sweet little ones anymore?  No, I don't want to have another baby... I'm not dumb.  To everything there is a season... but I'm not ready for that season to be over.  Mom assures  me that having grandbabies is so great, even better, but I can't say I believe her.  Even a Grandma isn't the ONE.  Don't get me wrong, I'm plenty happy to enter that phase, but I just can't imagine leaving the one I'm about to.  It breaks my heart, literally.  Surely there's a 12 step program for this.

Christmas 2009

The Holidays

Well, it's finally actually here... the Holidays!  I can legally decorate, blast Jingle Bells and shop till I drop!  The Saturday after Thanksgiving we put our tree and decorations up.  I like to do this while the kids are at school so it's not so chaotic, but I decided it would be more fun to do it together.  It was fun... but... it was also really chaotic.  The little ones just grabbed decorations and stuck them the first place they came to.  I'm not talking about on the tree, the other stuff.  Finally I told them if they would all get real clothes on I would take them to Taco Bell.  That ended the decorating and I was able to take a breath and come back and try to make some sense out of all of it.

Monday I put up MY tree and then Whitley and I decorated it when she got home from school.  Then Nick and I did the outside lights.  I had to make a few trips to the store to get enough lights to cover it all but we finally got it finished.  Until... I put up the very last string of lights.... POW... blew the fuse.  Dang!  So, I had to do a little changing around and fuse replacement, but they are all on and working now.  December 1st and my house is decorated and almost cleaned, my lights are up and my shopping is all but done.  I have also started reading the book Mary and Joseph again, I thought it appropriate at this time of year.  Now a whole 3 weeks to just enjoy.  I just have to actually remember to slow down and do that! 

Glee is over in a week.  It has finally come together to a place I can be happy with.  Our performance is next Friday so we still have a busy week of rehearsals and last minute things, but then I get to have a little breather.  It's been a truly learning and growing experience.  I have loved dancing all the time and putting things together on a stage.  It's also been stressful, but when you see your finished product, you remember why you did it in the first place. 

Rhett and Brooklyn started track this last week and today was their first meet.  It was cold and raining in the beginning.  Neither one knows their time, but it was not their best race.  Brooklyn was last, just like last year, but we are hoping she can at least improve her own time and work on running longer stretches. Rhett was 12th which sounds pretty good, but he should have been about 3rd or 4th.  He came off crying.  I'm not really sure what happened, but he said he was freezing and sweating at the same time and it was freaking him out.  I'm sure he'll do better next time.  I love to watch him run.  Speaking of Rhett, we are having a repeat of Camp Rock, in Glee, regarding the girls.  Yep, they are flocking.  I'm having to reign him in to try and keep him a little more humble.  Its hard when girls run up to you as soon as they see you and they tell you about all their friends who like you and adults and little girls alike are telling you what an amazing dancer you are.  We're gonna try and keep his head to a reasonable size! 

Thanksgiving 2011

We went to the Inter Stake Center to be with Glade's family on Wednesday night like we always do.  For the first time ever, we actually ran out of food!  We had a really large group of extended family this year.  Normally the kids all just play in the gym, but this year, Glade brought the Spinny Thing.  So pretty much everyone just stayed outside and watched and took turns on that. 

The next morning we all woke up early and headed to the Turkey Trot.  I will do a separate post about that.  After, we came home, got the turkey in the pressure cooker, put some things in the oven and waited.  Well, actually, we took showers and cleaned up and such.  On our way home from the Turkey Trot, I got a text from a friend who was just wishing us a Happy Thanksgiving and it turns out theirs wasn't until tomorrow and they were headed to a movie and dinner.  We insisted they come be with us instead.  It was really fun to have more people over for dinner.  They and their 4 kids came and enjoyed dinner with us and took a few rides on the Spinny Thing as well.  Not only did the Williams family join us, buy my mom brought a friend as well.  So fun!! 

Traditionally we go see a movie that night, but decided to forego that this year and do a dessert bar instead.  Every kid was in charge of making a dessert.  Holy cow!!  Because we ate a little later, no one had any room for dessert so it mostly just became left overs.  It was fun having them all make their own dessert though.  I think the Oreo Balls were the only thing consumed that day. 

The evening ended with shopping ads, lists and plans on how we were going to get it all done.  It turned out to be a very fun, eventful day filled with food and friends and family and shopping!!  What more could one ask for??