Hello School!

Well we had a big back to school breakfast in our yard this morning. I forgot to take pictures. It's been one week since school started. The boys seem to enjoy it. Except Bodie, he asks all day long when his brothers will be home. Preschool can't start soon enough.

 

Here we are ready to walk down to the school on the first day. We've tried many times to get Creed to not pull his socks clear to his knees, but he insists. Jax wanted to run ahead to walk with his friends. But I wouldn't let him, I figured if I am taking the time to walk them, he can stay with me. Bodie wanted his backpack too, everyone kept thinking he must be in kindergarten. He sure is bigger than some of the 5 year olds.

 

 

 

I couldn't believe when my boys each started kindergarten. It was a milestone. But for some reason I think it's harder on me to have Creed go to 1st grade all day. I've had a few moments of almost emotion in him growing up. I love that he can play with Jaxon at recess. And whenever he runs up to the car afterschool. I can't believe he is a big kid coming home from school. Jax has been doing this for years. 3rd grader is a pro. And my 1st grader is the size of the 3rd graders. Ha ha

 

And Bodie thinks he doesn't need naps anymore. I had to fight him every time he had to go lay down. This summer I've kind of given up on making him. Although, I find this kid snoozing away in the late afternoon all too often.

So long summer

 

Summer Sky - I love a good sunset. And this last month sure has had a lot of them. One evening, a near by wild fire left smoke in the West. And I freaked out over how incredible the sky was. We even drove up to overlook the cool view. And the last picture is a red half moon from a couple weeks ago. I've never seen the moon red. It was neat.

 

Boating - Well I was going to take a few photo's of all our boating trips this summer. Then do a little collage of them. We took it out in June, then forgot the camera. Then all of July the boat was being repaired, then repaired again. Ugh. So we had to cram all of our excursions into a few short weeks. And we had to bail on some because of rainy weather. And to top it off, our last outing with all our families, the boat's reverse gear stopped working, and it was rainy, so the whole weekend was ruined. So I have a few moments of fun boating this summer. Here we are with our friends the Davies, cruising around, and then freezing wet with my bro Cameron and Williamsen cousins from last Saturday.

 

 Here is one good evening, Greg happy as can be. Perhaps next summer will be the perfect boating excursions for us. HA?~! Fun times.

iPhone August

Here's a little glimpse from my not so good camera phone of our August so far...

 

Here's Bodie and Rafe at our ward camp out. I love, love, love the views from our Stake property, overlooking the Kamas/Oakley valley. It was a fun time. I loved that we drove our camper up, and voila - we were done setting up while everyone else had to set up tents and then hear the winds all night. I didn't hear a thing. Have I mentioned I love having our camper trailer!

 

 

After having lunch in a park we were in the area and so I thought I'd drive by This is the Place State Park so Jax could see the big monument he saw on a commercial. We decided to get out. And then I couldn't get the boys to cooperate for a simple photo. The first take wasn't working and a certain child was upset. Then the second take was as good as it gets. The third take I am missing half the kids in the shot so I didn't bother to show it. Ha! I headed straight home and put a certain little boy down for a nap.

 

With all the wild fires, we do get some great sunsets. Driving home one evening I was loving my view behind me while on I-80.

 

I mentioned we've been going to the track to run some mornings. Bodie loves it and often asks when we are going again. He runs and walks a little for 2 laps now. I love the way he runs. I had to get a picture of him.

 

And this last picture is random. I just saw it on Greg's phone and thought it was funny. Oh the life of a mother of young kids. And what we'll do to make things quick and simple. This was in church during a baby blessing over a year ago. I had to laugh. I don't recall Greg taking a picture while I changed Rafe.

 

IV

Bodie Boy turned 4! Has he really been here for 4 years? He is my little Chunky Monkey. Oh how I love him. Here he is at about 10 months old. He is a silly character. He makes me laugh. He loves that he is getting older. I don't love it. Don't you want to eat his cheeks!?

 

Bodie always wants to try and play with his older brothers. But he also loves to play with little brother Rafe. And he loves being with mom or dad. Always wanting to run errands with us, or sit with us. He is good at going to bed at night when we tell him. I wish his older brothers would follow his example. His naps are few and far between these days. He knows if he cries his brothers will give him what he wants. He eats Cheerios almost everyday for breakfast, sometimes toast. His favorite foods are, corn dogs, hamburgers, French fries and ice cream. Although he loves grapes and strawberries too. His everyday snacks are goldfish crackers or a Gogurt. He's turning into quite the picky eater. Following in his brothers footsteps.

We have to ask him to repeat several times what he is saying. He's hard to understand. We need to work on his speech. And work on his letters, and counting, and everything else. He does things at HIS pace. He is in no hurry. It's hard for me to have patience and remember that.

I love to just watch him. And he loves to have only mommy take him to bed at night. He cries if daddy tries doing it. I'll take it while I can get it.

 

*****

 

So on his birthday he was so excited when he woke up. I was even more excited because all the boys slept in till almost 8:30am, yeah- you heard me. And he wanted to open presents right away, so he ran down to wake up Creed. And away we went. But little brother Rafe thought it was his birthday and wanted to open the presents because they were his. He had a meltdown about Bodie's birthday presents. Jax tried comforting him, then daddy took over so I could do pictures, of course.

 

Bodie has been asking for a remote control car like his brothers have. He LOVES it! And I love the long charge the battery has and the short charge time. And the suspension on the wheels with a size big enough to go over anything. These things are very important and apparently hard to find.

 

I asked what kind of cake Bodie wanted. All he said was sprinkles. Lots of sprinkles. He's not much of a cake lover. He didn't even want to answer when I tried finding out what flavor of cake. It was fun and easy to make. And in the end, Bodie did really like his spice cake with cream cheese frosting. He wanted several pieces and he usually just wants ice cream. He did ask to keep his flags.

We had his grandma's and grandpa's over to celebrate. He loved getting more presents.

 

Blowing out the candles and eating another piece of cake before bed with mommy. - Only on your birthday.

 I love this picture. This is the silly Bodie we all know, tongue out and all. Rafe's face is pretty excited too. We are singing Happy Birthday. I think Rafe has that song down.

 

One of Bodie and Rafe's favorite things to watch on TV is "Baby Bodie". Our home movies of when Bodie was scooting around on his bum and all things baby Bodie did. They love it.

Here's to a great 4th year Bodie! We love you dearly!

7th month

Well July is just about over. Holy cow! Summer is flying by. I want it to last a little longer.

Greg went to Zion's and St. George for Youth Conference before our camping trip.

 I've enjoyed being a 30 second drive away from a neighbors backyard pool for lessons. The boys have been enjoying swimming lessons. Creed has been taking since June. We signed Bodie up, but he cried EVERY time and had a major panic attack for 2 days. Wouldn't even get in the water one time. And then the last few classes we actually had Jaxon go and sit and be with him in the pool. Luckily Dylan didn't mind and was good with Bodie. I was able to snap a few pictures of him using the noodle and then even jumping in the pool and going underwater. Maybe by next summer he'll be able to figure out to hold his breath. We had a count down to his last day of lessons. And for that whole weekend Bodie asked me numerous times (like 15 times a day) if he was done with swimming lessons? I always answered yes, except I was teasing him and said no, one time, and he got scared, welled up with tears and was ready for another panic attack. Poor kid. I thought he'd totally love lessons. He loves floating in a pool, loves water, loves putting his head under in the tub. But that monkey crawl along the edge of the pool really got to him.

And Creed is a fish and swims all over, up and down. And Jax can swim, but we thought maybe can master swimming underwater and diving better. He's doing well too.

 

 

Our church stake was able to do a float for the Salt Lake "Days of '47 Parade". The creative couple is in our ward and they enlisted help from many people for many, many hours. Greg and the young men were able to help. I never made it to help. But we did go to the SL Expo to view all the float entries and voted for ours of course. Apparently everyone else thought it was incredible too. It won 2 awards. The 2 best. Peoples Choice and the top achievement award in 5 categories. I forgot what it's called. But we are proud of it! It was "The Good Ship Zion". It was cool and had amazing detail. We recorded the parade on TV and were able to watch it later. Go Olympus Stake!

 

I'm throwing in this picture booth collage from my cousin's wedding. Trying to fit all 6 of us in and make it work was tricky. Poor Bodie and Rafe didn't quite make the cut. Fun times! Jax was so proud of his tiara in the first one. The booth's are always so fun.

And Sunday night we had an amazing sunset. The pretty sky from our deck. I'm always telling Greg or the boys to come look at the sunset!

One side note - I was on the computer making our home movies. And was on our California trip from last summer. Yes it's taken me this long, and we watched the Disneyland parade with Mickey Mouse and Rafe was so excited. His eyes lit up and body got stiff and he squealed and kept asking to see it again. He loves Mickey Mouse. It was so cute. And then when we got to the "It's a Small World" ride, filming from the outside. Rafe pointed to the monitor and said "the Temple". It does have lots of spires, pillars and gold like a temple. He's so cute.

Black's Fork

From the mountains, to the prairies,
To the oceans, white with foam
God bless America, My home sweet home.

I love that song. Going up to the high Uinta Mountains every year is so pretty and majestic. It makes me think of that song. It's also, full of bugs, dirt, allergies, animal poop, tired kids, sticks, rocks, coyotes howls, horses, dogs, fishing, hiking, gun shots, chain saws, campfires, card games, laughter, family, quite, naps, and did I mention all the dirt?

 

Our annual, big family, Black's Fork in the Uinta's trip has come and gone. The boys have been asking all summer when they get to go. And now it's all over. It's A LOT of work to go and come back and unpack - that's the worst part. But it's always a lot of fun. A little boys dream, right?

 

This year we did a lot of "hanging around". It was our last time with the stroller, it makes a great high chair and does great "off road" for the hikes. And the last time for the port-a-crib & diapers. Next year will bring big changes for us. I look forward to those changes. It was so nice to not have to worry about bottles, night feedings, baby food, etc.

 

Creed slept like a log. Bodie woke up once the first night, scared about not knowing where he was. Rafe did ok, I think he got cold the first night, so we put a blanket on him and he was good about keeping it on himself, he knew it kept him warm. And Jax stayed up with the adults and went to bed when we did. He slept good until the last night. He was up multiple times, scared, worried, talking in his sleep. And then ultimately pulled out his own tooth. That was part of his waking's being worried. It was kinda funny to hear him, but also tiring.

 

Speaking of sleeping, that is one noise I have to mention. I am a light sleeper. So when I think of the Uinta's the sound I think of is all my little boys snoring. All of them. Our noses were stuffy with the dry air, and camping boogers :) . And it made all of them breath loud with a little snore. And then Greg's big snores. Music to my ears, not!

 

This boy had a blast. If he wasn't being an airplane he was wandering, finding sticks, going to the bathroom - like the big boys, he said his favorite part about camping was fishing. We got Bodie his own fishing pole this year. He was so excited. He loved having his flash light and "new" shoes to wear. (Jax's old ones.)

 

 

 Here is Greg and our bro-in-law Abe on a boulder fishing with the kids. I guess it was a good spot, we didn't see them for a while. Greg didn't even bother to bring his fly fishing pole as he knew he'd spend his time helping the boys. Next time Greg.

 

Since fishing with mom's bait, a pretzel, didn't work, Bodie was patient waiting his turn to get help from daddy for a worm and then catching a fish. With the important help from daddy. And then Jax is showing me the size of the one that got away. Jax's favorite part was fishing of course.

 

Creed's line caught a fish, then got stuck around a rock or something. So Greg got the log to try and maneuver it out. No luck. And Rafe had help from his brothers handing him rocks to throw in the river. Snacks and lunch along the river, then back to camp for naps and playing.

 

Jax wouldn't ride the horses this year. He went to pet them earlier and was reminded how allergic he is to horses. He was miserable, like his mother. He didn't want to be near them. I can't blame him. Kinda makes me sad though. Creed loved riding solo again. And Bodie was too scared to do it alone. Luckily Rafe joined him while daddy had the reigns of "Bonnie". Rafe was thrilled the whole time. I got Bodie to wave one quick time. He wouldn't let go of the saddle. What cuties.

 

 A must is to always walk down to the river to throw rocks in. It was low this year, but I guess it was easier for our cars to drive through to the other side.

 

 

Rafe drank so much juice, which he NEVER does, just wanting to be like his brothers drinking Capri Suns. But it resulted in him getting diarrhea and had a sore, sore, bottom. He would cry, wouldn't walk or sit. So he laid around for half a day. The boys loved having hot cocoa every night Here is Bodie drinking his. Creed said his favorite part camping was roasting marshmallows. And then the last 2 pics trying to figure out a setting on our camera at the campfire. Jax likes his 2 faces. He said it was his "Spirit".

 

Our last morning. While we packed up the boys entertained themselves by the fire with uncle Chris. I don't know if I ever mentioned this in years past. But all the dead burned trees in the back ground are from a forest fire back in 2002. The summer I met Greg. It came right through and burned the camp spot Greg's extended family has been at for decades along with thousands of acres across the mountains in the area. His Grandpa Bangerter has been coming up here since he was young. For the last couple years we have luckily ventured back over to the same area with all the re-growth. It has patches of live trees.

 

 

I suppose Rafe's favorite part of camping was throwing rocks, the fire, or being in the camper trailer. Greg said his favorite was going on his 4:30am horse back ride with others and seeing the most amazing sky and mountain views at sun rise and seeing the heard of 80 elk. Getting him all excited for the elk hunt in October. And my favorite part was um, um, probably that it didn't ever rain this year! Yeah! It was a fun, mellow, perfect weather time!

Princes

In celebration of Prince William and Kate having their royal baby today... ha ha j/k I just happen to be sharing pictures of a "Princess Party" we went to last week. My Aunt Ilona was throwing a party because her grand-daughter was playing Princess Aerial. There were twice as many boys than girls. It was fun. I am glad to expose my boys to girl and princess things. Although for the face painting they opted not to do the typical sea shell, butterfly, flowers, spider or whatever and they all got 1 single "Eyeball" on their foreheads. Had to be aliens I guess?

Even Rafe wanted to be like his brothers and Williamsen cousins. And at the end the frozen popsicles had to be swords of course. All things boy. That night I asked Bodie to tell daddy about it. He said "She did a book and find a fork"! They hid and others tried finding the fork game. I guess Bodie doesn't know to call it a "Dinglehopper". :)

 

And I had to throw in there a picture I took of my awesome Etch-a-Sketch art I made. Jaxon asked me to "draw" a gun for him. And voila! For the record, the line thing coming off and on top of the gun was Jax attempting to do a gun too.

 

 

 

We've been going down to the high school track a couple mornings sometimes. Jax will gladly and easily run a mile, Creed tries a lap or two and tires easily, Bodie and Rafe love to take off and run too. They are who I need to get a picture of, so cute!

Our new friends the Davies invite us to join them at the track. Here is a picture of the older kids sprinting a short race.

 

 

It's fun, except getting them up early to go down there by 8am before it's too hot. Bodie asks several times a week if we get to go to the track again.

So Far

 

What's with all the triple digit heat? My flowers usually don't struggle in the heat until August. It's been slightly uncomfortable, right? One evening all the boys got in the little pool. It had been sitting all day with water in it so it was actually not that cold. I dare say it was warm. Anyways, it was cute, them all together playing.

 

 

Last weekend we went downtown for dinner at City Creek. The boys loved the fountains of course. And playing in the food court play land. We had cloud cover again so we didn't have to have the blaring sun.

 

 

 

It's kind of fun having all these hot summer rain storms. The thunder, lightning, and complete down poor. Sometimes the 2 little boys get scared of the loud cracking thunder, they all love watching the rain flood our walkway and flower beds.

We've said good bye to another car. We've had some relieving news doing with business, Bodie cried during his first swim lesson. Hopefully he'll go back for lesson #2. Greg has been in contact with former mission companions over a 20 year anniversary of opening Lithuania. Man he's old. And I've been getting my trashed kicked with bad neck pain and migraines for the last 2 weeks. I don't know what's happened but I've been doped up on Ibuprofen, seeing a chiropractor, and message therapist. Whenever I think it's getting better...  I realize I am so not. Ugh!

Well, that's what's been happening.

The Fourth!

 

We love America, we love Independence, and we love celebrating!

We started our day out by doing the Millcreek parade. The boys are lined up to run and collect candy. It was nice, short and sweet. We ran into quite a few people we knew. Then as it got hot, we went home and watched a movie and relaxed. I tried dressing them in patriotic colors. I only mention it because the friends next to us had their girls all decked out with ribbons and skirts all in red, white, & blue, stars, jewelry, etc. and we laughed at the difference between my boys and the girls.

 

 

This year we didn't do our annual 4th of July backyard party. We had several people ask us about it. We were sad to not be doing it. It was weird not having it. But we got tickets to Stadium of Fire months ago and were so excited to go see Kelly Clarkson. We left Bodie and Rafe with my mom for the night. They had a great time and loved having a sleepover at Grandma and Grandpas- thanks to them for doing that!

Then we took the older boys down to Provo for the big Stadium of Fire show. It was fun. The crowds were big, parking wasn't too bad and leaving was way better than I thought it would be.

Luckily for us there was some nice cloud cover blocking the blazing sun. Phew! And the boys just kept asking when does it start, then when does Kelly come out? They enjoyed all the entertainment. They had dancers, Cirque de Soleil, and the fun Carly Rae Jepson. The boys only knew one of her songs. Of course it was "Call Me Maybe". But by the time Kelly Clarkson came out. Creed was half asleep lying around. Jax was quite tired too. Greg and I thoroughly enjoyed the concert. The boys wanted their beds and then the fireworks started. Kaboom! They woke right up and loved seeing those.

 

 

Below is when Kelly Clarkson was out singing. And notice the earplugs in the boys years. The loud firework booms and blaring speakers were loud. Although, I have to say, in all the concerts I've been too. The sound system was not that good at the stadium. They need to do better. But Kelly was awesome live and entertaining. It was a great time.

.

 

I was fighting off a headache during the show. And after driving home, when we walked in the door I thought I was going to throw-up because of another bad migraine. So I laid down and slept, slept, slept. It was nice not having to wake up at 7am with Rafe and Bodie. So almost 9am I think is when we all got up the next morning.

The End

My Dad

This last Sunday (Father's Day) I had to speak in church. Blah! So I spoke on 3 father's in my life. My dad, the father to my children (Greg) and my Father in Heaven. When I was coming up with what I was going to say about my dad I also thought it would be a perfect time to write about him on the blog. Here are some bits and pieces from my talk.

 

My Dad is amazing. He is one of my hero’s. He holds a dear place in my heart. Growing up my dad worked hard and was gone traveling on the road a lot for his job.

He was raised by his parents but his mother had polio and in a wheel chair his whole life. The oldest brother to 3 sisters. So he knew how to take care and of his family.

He married his sweetheart, my mom, and had 4 awesome kids. :) 

He has worked hard to provide and sacrificed so much for his family.

He and my mom are both the most selfless people I know.

He was a great handy man and could fix things.

He loved to show us kids a good time.

He had a unique sense of humor.

He has such a strong testimony and knowledge of the gospel. We could ask him anything.

He had the qualities I wanted to find in a spouse.

It was hard for him to be traveling so much of our teenage/adult lives. He missed out on a lot.

We were always so happy when he would be home.

He loved getting down on the floor and playing cars or building blocks with his grandkids. And taking them on walks.

And I loved seeing my boys love their “big papa”.

 

I am saying it in past tense. Because now we are losing my dad to Alzheimer’s. He doesn’t get to “play” with the grandkids anymore, or chat with his family. He has suffered little strokes and that has effected his memory. He was forgetting names, and words when he was trying to say something. So 4 years ago we decided to have him "tested" by the Dr's. And they said he has early on-set Alzheimer's. We didn't know about the strokes until after. For a while we thought maybe it must be from the strokes and it affects his memory and ability to form a sentence. But I think that certainly played a factor in his current condition. But we all see him getting worse. He can't have conversations, he forgets all the words and thoughts he has. He gets confused. And frazzled with all the rambunctious grandkids around.

He is too young, and it’s heart breaking and hard to see. I’ll cry and, it makes me sad. And sad that my children won’t know him like I want them too.

My parents must be scared with what lies ahead of them. Their faith teaches me to have faith. And it show’s me to enjoy life while you can.  My mom's dad (my Grandpa Jensen) actually had and died from Alzheimer's. So my mom is very familiar with it. I imagine it's very scary for them. I've always assumed my dad would die of a heart attack- considering his health, but now he has this awful mind disease. It makes me so sad.

 

So for now, he functions ok. Taking care of himself while my mom is at work. He loves having something to do. If I stop by to visit him or take him on a walk up to the Boulevard in Bountiful. I think he loves getting out of the house. And he loves when my mom gets home from work. We are all hoping he is able to be alone for a few more months until my mom retires and takes care of him full time.

A running joke in our family is when a few years ago my dad put Hershey's Chocolate Syrup on his fried chicken and ate it. Or just last week he put strawberry jam on his scrambled eggs. Makes me chuckle. I feel proud when he does try and say something and it's a guessing game for me to come up with what words he might be trying to think of to say with his story of whatever. But that is happening less and less. So far he seems to still know who we are. -for now. There are moments and he has "good days" and bad days.

 

I love my dad and hate to lose him so early in life. And I hope that with this disease on both sides of my family, that I don't suffer from it either! Yikes.

 

***

Here are a few good classic Lee (dad) photos. The first is when he was a baby. 1 yr. to 18 months maybe?  It's a nice good 1940's picture. I've always liked it, and like the hat he's wearing. What a cutie little one he was.

Then the other 3 pics, well it is my dad. Napping - always. Being a horse and playing with the kids - very good at playing. And a picture of him as a grandpa laughing while he feeds baby Jax.

 

 

 

As I was going through the albums I was reminded that he never looks at the camera. He hated the flash. So in all these many pictures he is looking away from the camera. Great, thanks Dad. All the pictures of you, you aren't looking at the camera like everyone else.

I have memories of each picture that is in the collage. I love it. The big one in the middle was a Sunday night, he was still dressed for church because he was the Bishop and just got home while we celebrated Cameron's 9th B-day. My dad loved the train as much as the kids. I wish I could go through and tell about each picture. Can you image filling an album with all the memories and details. I'd love it but wouldn't love doing it. What a task.

 

These 2 pictures are 2 good ones of my dad looking directly at the camera. So we have a few. Thank goodness.

 

This picture of my parents was taken several years ago. I love it. It shows my dad with a real smile of his. Not a forced or fake one. Almost a laugh. I love his laugh. It is very contagious. Everything is funnier with my dad laughing. I will always miss the way he was. And am grateful for the time we have left with him. Love you dad!