Life in a Northern Town: FAMILY LETTER 04.13.14

Dear Loved Ones,

I’m feeling pretty proud of how this week went—starting a garden, hosting dinner, attending Relief Society meeting, throwing a birthday party, surviving 26 hours without Rich, leading choir and teaching Primary-- especially the part where I spent Friday evening and night having contractions yet I did not (a) freak out (b)run to Labor & Delivery triage (c) have a premature baby. More about that later.

Monday was a little cold and rainy in the morning, but Niles and I went ahead and planted seeds for our garden. Niles was ADORABLE putting the seeds in the starter tray and gently covering them up, saying, “Night-night, seeds!” or “Come out and see the sun soon!” (He’s been watching a lot of Sesame Street and Daniel Tiger where they are doing springy things like planting seeds). We had a nap after lunch and woke up to a sunny afternoon. We had Family Night from the Friend magazine and talked about being good neighbors, being forgiving, and the idea of “kill them with kindness.” I posted this on facebook: “Pregnancy Factoid: As I'm running my bath early tonight due to ridiculous hip and pelvis pain, I noticed I have used up almost 36 pounds of Epsom salts soaking almost nightly this pregnancy. I use those generic 6lb bags from the drug store. But I also love Dr. Teal’s Lavender Epsom salts.” And if you count the Dr. Teal’s that’s another 15 lbs of salt. I should start taking buckets of bath water out to the garden.

Tuesday we played with Maren and made a big Hawaiian dinner for the missionaries. Rich had a meeting in Bozeman and got home late, so we rushed dinner between 6:15 and 6:50 when Addie and I had to leave for Relief Society meeting. We made Kahlua pork that turned out great with a little Soy Vey teriyaki added to the shred, plus jasmine rice cooked in coconut milk, fresh veggies and fruits, potato salad (leftover from Sunday), and of course, panipopo and juice. The elders loved it. I took Addie up to the church to help with the nursery while I went to a “Price is Right—Food Storage edition” game show night. It was just like the TV show, but contestants had to price out food storage items and/or guess their shelf life or best storage method or how much we should store per person per year. It was pretty fun.

Wednesday we watched Maren again and sent Daddy off to scouts and Addie off to a Personal Progress night at Young Women. The other kids and I watched an episode of Nature about animal prosthetics, where a vet gave a wild swan a new beak so it could preen and fish better.

Thursday was a busy day getting ready for Heidi’s birthday party. We had to shuffle it around the calendar because of Spring Break, and then we had to shave off a half hour (4:30-6 rather than 6:30) from what we put on the invitations because the kids had their “Arts in April” art show from 6-7 that night. But it worked out perfectly. Eight friends came over after school and Addie helped me organize them into teams for a few “Minute to Win It” games (Cookie Face, Skittle Sorting, and Sticky Nose-moving cotton balls from one bowl to another using your vaselined-nose). Then we ate a taco/salad dinner and had cupcakes and ice cream and presents, then headed over to the school to see the art projects. Most of the party attendants had stuff in the show, so that was fun. I discovered a great fast/non-messy way to do cake and ice cream, too. Albertsons had single-serve ice cream cups (called “Birthday Cake” flavor with confetti candies in it) on sale, a bag of 8 cups for $1.19. I bought three bags, then made cupcakes, so I could just hand the girls their cups and cakes—SO EASY and cheap. I hope I can find a deal like that every birthday! Heidi signed up for a recycled architecture art class during art week last week. At the art show, her class created a street with their architecture projects lining the street. You could walk down and admire all their buildings made from found objects. They had imaginary clients (they made them up) who came to them and asked for certain things. Heidi had Morgan Freeman come and ask her to design a French Sushi restaurant. Wrap your brain around that. The result was an awesome Eiffel tower shaped building with a huge pool of fish where they catch your dinner for ya, fresh! She’s somethin’ else.

Thursday was somewhat of a recovery day. I washed and dried all the laundry but didn’t fold it til Friday night. I took a good walk and a nap with Niles, and also had a good soak and finished watching the conference talks that I missed (I love having the iPad to stream shows while I soak in the tub—to me, it’s the ultimate luxury). I braced myself for Friday-Saturday when Rich would be gone to Scout Training camp.

Friday Niles and I went to Costco in the morning to buy what we hope is his last box of diapers, as well as one for the baby. We also got some training pants for him to lounge in next week. I read some tips from a pediatrician who says training pants are her secret potty training weapon, so we will give those a try. Pray for us! ;) All that walking around at Costco I thought would be good for my sore hips, but it actually made me start contracting. I laid down with Niles around 2pm and they never stopped til I fell asleep around midnight. They were only about 10-15 minutes apart and not painful, but by the end of the night all the pressure made it so I could hardly walk and was running to the bathroom every 20 minutes. I was a little scared the first 2 hours, but when they didn’t get worse, I just told Rich to go on his training trip and I would survive. And I did.

Saturday morning was glorious and the kids were so excited about the first day of Spring Break. I saw on the news that it was going to rain and get cold in the afternoon, so I told them we would do our fun outdoor things in the morning. Addie popped two huge bags of popcorn in the air popper and we went to feed the ducks and take a walk at Sacajawea Park. I ended up driving the car and following the kids to the lagoon since I was not in the best walking shape from the previous night. We had a good time, came home for lunch, and as we finished up, it started to rain. I told the kids they could play Xbox while Niles and I took a nap and that worked out perfectly. Later we made dinner and Rich got home around 6:30 to finish up with us and we settled in and got ready for Sunday. I was so glad to see him!!!

Sunday morning we had choir practice, then Fast & Testimony meeting, then Rich & I subbed Heidi’s primary class and talked about Jacob and Esau. I gave them this quote: “Your most important friendships should be with your own brothers and sisters and with your father and mother. Love your family. Be loyal to them. Have a genuine concern for your brothers and sisters. Help carry their load.” –Ezra Taft Benson, 1986. I love that quote and believe it. Except for a handful of friends who are like family, no one is ever as close or significant as family and those relationships deserve maintenance and devotion.

So here we are! Birthdays galore this week—Heidi, Sariah, Kaylee—and EASTER! We are celebrating Holy Week with an 8 Day Walk with Christ. Message me if you want the Word Document and you can join us. We love you all and are so grateful for Our Savior and His atonement which gives us the gift of repentance, forgiveness, forever families, and resurrection. The hope and glory of it is “wonderful to me.” Have a great week!

Love, Rich and Jamie and Family