Monday, June 23, 2003

Jill and family finally got here at lunchtime on Friday. We all went to the Pickle Barrel Sandwich shop for lunch and walked home in the warm rain. Sadly, that rain would soon turn cold and ruin our weekend plans. After lunch, Rich worked and we napped and relaxed at home. We had planned to go up to Pine Creek and camp, but the weather changed our minds and we had a cook out at Sacajawea Park and let the girls play instead. Rich's sister Angie joined us with her family and we got home just before the heavy, cold rains began. We bathed the girls and snuggled up and enjoyed eachother's company.

Saturday we also had to change plans due to the weather. Rich and Drew were going to take the girls swimming while Jill and I helped out at the Young Women's carwash (fundraiser for camp)--both activities were rained out. So we went out to Rosa's Pizza for lunch and drove down the valley to Chico Hot Springs so the girls could still swim. They were so cute swimming around on their little floaty toys. Addie loved walking around in the 2-ft. part and blowing bubbles. She didn't even mind going under water! I am so glad she's not afraid of water--we'll have much more fun this summer that way!

After swimming (around 3:30) we came back to town and began preparing for Rich's birthday luau at is parents' house. We planned it there because their yard is so beautiful, but we had to have it inside because of the rain. It turned out really fun anyway. We ate delicious marinated chicken and ribs, rice and chili, fruit salad, panipopo (coconut milk rolls), and cake. Rich got lots of fun gifts (like new clothes, "18 things for the guy born on the 18th," babysitting coupons, gift certificates for dinners and movies, and camping stuff) and we had fun with our guests (Blatters, Carters, missionaries, Mike Melin, Petersens and Parents). It got late, so we took the girls home to bed and played board games and Yahtzee in to the wee hours--Jill is still the Yahtzee Nazi-- she even beat Mike!

The Petersens left Sunday morning when we left for church--*sigh*! We miss them a lot, but we had a nice quiet, rainy Sunday with a nice long nap and a youth fireside in the evening. We watched Amelie again (Rich's first time watching it) and loved it. Happy weekend. I feel exceedingly grateful for my family--both immediate and extended--and count myself blessed and lucky to be free from the tension and other issues that plague so many families and marriages. All my childhood and youth, I prayed that my home would be a refuge from the world, and so far it has been just that and I thank my lucky stars (and God) for that!

If you didn't get pix of this weekend but want some, just email me.

Friday, June 20, 2003

G'Mornin!

We expected Aunt Jill (my sister), Uncle Drew, Cousin Ally and Cousin Isabelle to be sleeping in Addie's room when we woke up this morning, but Jill calleda t 130 am and told us they had missed fork in the I-15 and had gone an hour toward Burley, Idaho instead of straight north through Idaho Falls. They decided to just sleep in Idaho Falls and drive up (3 1/2 hours) this morning. I think Addie and I are going to the wading pool while we wait.

Addie cracked us up last night with a new word (which I am sure she picked up at my mom's house--her kids say it all the time). Rich changed her diaper and she kept saying, "Awww, gross! Gross!" It was so funny because she's just so little and we didn't teach her that. Then she used it again this morning when she smelled Daddy's breath--"Gross Daddy." It'll be interesting having her commentary on everything now. Also, she forgot how to say "yes" on our trip. Now she only says "No", even when we know she means yes ("Do you want a cookie?" --"No."/ "Do you want to play with Grandma?"--"No."/ "Do you want me to get you out of bed?"--"No."). She's a kook.

More later.

Oh--PS!!! The YW campout was fun, as was Rich's whole birthday. He got a new baby niece as a birthday present! Mark (his brother) and Elena (Mark's wife) had a baby girl in the evening of June 18th--7lbs. 6 oz., 21 1/2" long, named Liana. How cool is that? They are in Texas, so it will be a while before we get to see the little tootsie (which is too bad--Mark and Elena were at the hospital when Addie was born and we'd like to have returned the favor :)).

Tuesday, June 17, 2003

Denver Airport=black hole

Life just got crazy busy. I've got a Young Womens' campout on Wed. (the 14-16 yr-olds) which is Rich's bday, planning mtg tonight, my cool sister Jill and her family arriving late Thursday night, a church activity at Pine Creek Friday that Rich is in charge of, a Young Women's fundraiser car wash on Saturday, and Rich's big birthday luau on Saturday night. And I still have to unpack our 4 big person-sized bags that arrived last night from United Airlines flight who-the-heck-knows!

A few updates/corrections to previous entries: the luggage and camera that I lost on my way to St. Louis were returned the next day. The camera thing really restored my faith in humanity. At least a little.

My cousin's baby is Ryley, not Riley. Just like my daughter is Addie, not Addy (I wanted Adi, since it's short for Adeline, but then everyone would have pronounced a long A).

The people-issues I mentioned blew up and were resolved. And no, they were not with my husband or family. I actually don't fight with my husband because he is an angel straight from heaven and patiently puts up with all my antics. Our relationship is a happy, calm place in my life, which is something I thougt one could only DREAM of...

Okay. I must needs get on with my preparatios for the rest of the week. Farewell!

Monday, June 16, 2003

Melting in Middle America

I am apologizing profusely for not writing during our trip to St. Louis (mom has Juno, so--well, you know what that means). SOME of our trip pix made it out to family; most did not, and I don't think any got out to friends.

Here's the breakdown of activities:
May 29: arrive in St. Louis in time for dinner; one suitcase and one $1200 digital camera MISSING! (don't sleep well)
May 30: prepare for sister Amy's graduation from Timberland HS at Lindenwood University; attend said ceremony in sweltering auditorium with my mom, Mark and their family plus my sister Sara, broinlaw Rob, nephew Raef, nephews Cody and Tyler, and Addie.
May 31: Stepdad Mark's company picnic at Six Flags; ride rides, take pix, and chase kids all day (There were fun rides that Addie could ride all by herself! It was so dang cute!)
June 1: Amy moved to Michigan with Rob and Sara and Mark left on a week-long business trip at 6am; Mom and kids sick and exhausted from trip to Six Flags; I'm exhausted from Addie screaming between 2am and 5 am because she's cutting molars and she misses her daddy; we miss church but end up having a pretty nice day at home.
June 2: Shop-a-rama with mom; we hit a cool second-hand kids' store and Costco, then set about organizing mom's plethora of crafting supplies (which have been cluttering up her otherwise luxurious and beautiful master suite for 11 months). This becomes a 3-4 day project with lovely results. At FHE, my nephews Cody and Ty teach a parable I taught them and we have Primary Song all-request hour.
June 3: Our first venture to the St. Louis Zoo, which was just splendid! It's free to get in (although lots of attractions cost money) and it's very wild and natural and fun. The kids loved the animals--they got to feed nectar to lorikeets, pet and brush goats, ride a tube slide that goes through the sea otter tank, and watch the penguins and puffins and hippos swim in their tanks, too (eye-to-eye underwater through the glass). They also rode a beautiful "conservation carousel" and a cute little train that encircles the zoo
June 4: House Projects (mom's room);
June 5: House Projects; Cardinals' baseball game (Cards spanked the Blue Jays, by the way--no hits until 8th inning and I ate the spiciest bratwurst ever--ugh!)
June 6: I can't remember what we did this day
June 7: Picked up Rich from Airport at 11am; lunched at Fazoli's; worked on the backyard as a family that night
June 8: church at 830am; picnic and zoo (again--we had to take Rich and his good camera); Addie has a ball with her daddy there! ; Addie starts running a high fever and having diarrhea--later we figure its probably a combo of teething and a bug that runs through the whole family over the next week.
June 9: Work on house (Rich building in basement; mom and I put up a pool for the kids on the deck); swam; had another sing-along fest for FHE and played Pictionary with Magnadoodles with mom, Rich, Cody, and Ty after little ones went to bed; Addie slightly sick.
June 10: Worked on house (Rich building in basement, me painting furniture in basement)
June 11: Worked on basement in the morning, took Rich to the airport in the afternoon (he flew to Rochester, NY to photograph a wedding on Thursday in Palmyra, then up to Montreal for the reception and a tour on Friday and Saturday); went to Old Navy with mom to get Rich's birthday giftie.
June 12: Hung out with mom; scan a bunch of old family photos to save for genealogy purposes; lunch at Hardee's and play at Lake St. Louis Park; shopping with brother Mike; scrap book and make cards for Father's Day.
June 13: Play with kids all morning, clean house, make books with mom, work on genealogy photos some more; breakfast for dinner; games with Cody and Ty; TV with mom (Gregory Peck died--so sad--I stayed up and watched his Biography on A&E 11pm-12am)
June 14: Laundry and Packing and cleaning up our mess; Addie feeling better but worn out (so we stay home to nap and pack while Mom and Mark took the other kids to see Finding Nemo); shop with mom; tacos for dinner; TV and manicures with mom; brother Mike came home from Youth Conference and we chill for a while and eat Trix at 11pm.
June 15: Fathers' day! Church at 830; picked up Rich form Montreal at 10am; Baja Tacos for lunch with Father's day gifts and cake; nap; pack; say goodbyes; mom drive to airport at 4pm for 540 flight that turns into a 610 flight that might not connect in Denver with our flight to Bozeman; we make our Bozeman flight by the skin of our teeth, only to arrive without our FOUR HUGE pieces of checked luggage (!); the flight was nice and Addie was good, but she totally peed all over me on the plane (we had run out of diapers, so I used a swim diapers--for future reference, they don't catch pee--just the floaty stuff)-I am just glad to be back and glad Rich was there to help; arrive at our home sweet home at 11 pm and have a joyfully dreamy night's sleep in our huge comfy super king bed with fresh sheets; Addie sleeps well, too--ahh! Who cares about lost luggage when you're home safe after a long trip!?! (well, we do, a little--still waiting for it to get here--it HAS arrived in Bozeman).

Top 4 things about being home:
1. Cool, DRY air
2. Huge comfy bed
3. The Sound of Silence (ahhhhh)
4. Livingston ROCKS--summer came while we were gone and it's mighty loverly!

Bottom 4 things:
1. Missing Mom
2. Not seeing the house projects finished
3. Not having any clothes to wear
4. Not having a free zoo

So there you have it. If you got the email of pictures, they should all make sense now ! :)

PS: Rich had a great time in Palmyra and Montreal and stayed with my friend Heidi's family in Seneca Falls (I am so jealous!) The pix are FAB!

PPS: the luggage arrived at 4pm today and just about gave the delivery guy a heart attack carrying it up. Better him than us, I guess.

Wednesday, May 21, 2003

When I checked on my last post, the advertisement at the top of the page was for "safe, natural gripe water". I know that's a real thing, but it struck me as funny. "Quit your griping or I'll give you a mouthful o' gripe water!" I gues that's what happens when the word "toddler" is in one's description of one's blog.

Things that make you go hmm.
I thought I might have more to say about me and my own thoughts today, but I don't. Or I can't. Most of my thoughts lately are of the relationship nature--thoughts about people I know--and I don't generally write about those unless all issues are resolved and the hindsight is all 20/20 and stuff. So I am learning how things work in my new little town, reminding myself that I am 1200 miles from my people and my culture--even though I am still in the same country, I am a foreigner in many ways, struggling to assimilate for the long haul.

Adeline said, "Water please" today while handing me a cracked plastic party cup she found who-knows-where. This marks her first correct use of the word "please." She has been saying it when I tell her to, but this time she did it on her own. More often than not, she says "thank you " when she means please. Like tonight when I was frosting a chocolate cake (a farewell cake for one of the missionaries who lives nextdoor--Elder Westwood is being transfered to Great Falls), she hung on my leg hollering, "Thank you, mamma, thank you." What she really meant was "Mom, Please give me some of that frosting right now!" Language acquisition will always fascinate me, but it's SUPER fascinating when it's your own kid learning the lingo. She's great. Next time you talk to her, ask her what a horsey says. You won't be disappointed!

So perhaps more tomorrow. Something less mom-ish and more Agent-J-ish.

Tuesday, May 20, 2003

May 19th seems like a good day to start keeping a New Years' resolution, don't you think? I promised myself I would write a journal entry and/or a detailed family letter at least once a week and I have only done about a quarter of that. Hopefully having remote access to something like blogger will motivate me to keep on it.

My old online journal was full of romance and adventure (well, kind of)--I was single when I started it, met my husband, got married, and was expecting a baby when I ended it. The end actually coincided with the whole 9/11 thing, but really I just stopped because I went on maternity leave, then quit my job and stayed far from the computer for a year or so. Becoming a mom rocked my world--I am just now getting my vocabulary back and I can almost type with two hands forming complete sentences! Of course, I have to do this after 11pm, when my two loves are tucked happily in bed. It's funny how I have so much I would like to write about now--so much happiness, so much growth, so much adventure--and I have so little time. Usually I have to choose between getting 7 hours of sleep and never writing, or getting six and writing something loopy just before bed. I guess I will do my best to write something. Maybe it will stop being so loopy.

Today there were no newsworthy developments on the homefront. Addie said the same words she usually says, although she did a lot more tantruming than usual--poor frustrated girl! She will be exactly a year-and-a-half old on Wednesday. The more we do this whole mother-daughter thing, the more I realize she mirrors me. Or at least her actions are really a reaction to what I am doing and feeling. Today I was grouchy and distracted by our mountain of laundry, so I shouldn't have been surprised by her little outbursts and mischievousness. But I got so frustrated, at one point I was in tears. But even then, I knew it was me--not her--that needed a time out. She finally took a long nap and I got caught up and all was well. We had a very nice family night together, and then her friends Abby and Lynzee came and played in her room for an hour or two. She stayed up late, crashing peacefully in my arms around 9:30.

A sleeping toddler is a beautiful thing. Her rosy little cheeks and golden fresh-bathed afro laid out on my lap erased the day. I love that girl.

During our family night Grandma Lyn called to tell me that cousin Kev's wife Kate gave birth to their very first little baby--a girl named Riley Elizabeth, 6lb 4oz and 19 inches long. Cousin Kev got to leave his Army Reserve thing in Texas and be home for her birth, which I think was awful nice of the army (aside: cousin Kev is part of my family of cousins that may as well be my siblings--we are all very close on that side fo the family, so this is like a new niece for me). So congratulations Kev, Kate, and Riley (and proud grandparents and uncles and auntie maren)!!

It snowed a ton yesterday and maybe an inch this morning, but by 11am the sun came out and Adeline played outside as it all melted away. Wow. It's all in the soil now, making this place emerald green and gorgeous. Spring never stops amazing this Arizona girl.

I think I will have more to say about me and what I have been doing tomorrow. I am getting ready for an epic journey to visit my mother in Missouri from May 29-June 15. That's a long time--I'm preparing much in advance. So more on that tomorrow. G'nite.

Thursday, May 01, 2003

Playing Catch-Up

If you come to my blog to catch up, there are, of course, gaps in my timeline here on the blog. I kept a blog in 2000-2001 til I gave birth to Addie and was away from my desk for 2-1/2 years. But I'm back! This blog will log our family life from 2003 on, but here's what's been goin' down since High School in Tucson:

After high school, I did a summer and fall semester at Ricks College (1989) and could not adjust to weather/culture, etc. I spent spring in AZ then transferred to BYU Provo for spring (1990) and took classes at BYU and UVSC for the next 2 years, studying education and other humanities of interest.

I served a mission in North Carolina Raleigh 92-94 and returned to Provo for 94-95. I lived/worked in NC 95-96, then FINALLY decided to finish my BA at UofA and moved back to Tucson in 1996. I graduated in 1998 (after changing from Education to English and History). I worked, taught institute, started grad classes in Tucson, got engaged then dis-engaged (for the second time) in 1999.

I began the new millennium in Provo/Orem (AGAIN), working on my MA teaching freshman composition evening classes at Utah Valley College and working days as a marketing copy writer.

I met my husband Richard with a friend of a friend at my big 29th bday party in Provo 9/23/00 (he had just moved to SLC from BYU-H); we were engaged on a mountainside in Paradise Valley MT on 10/28/00, married on 2/17/01 in San Diego. We had our lovely Adeline Rose  in Utah on 11/21/01--a whole nine months and four days after our wedding (more Addie HERE). After a rough year (I mean, really--was 2001 GOOD for anyone?) we moved to Montana in October 2002 so Rich could begin taking over his Dad's insurance business in his hometown. We live here blissfully building a life on the banks of the Yellowstone River, under the big sky.

UPDATE (basically a summary of the blog):
Our delightful daughter Heidi Lynn was born in MT on 4/15/04--the same weekend we broke ground on our own new house. On July 22, 2005, we moved into that house, built with our own hands (with lots of help from family and friends). Our little James Ole Richard was born 9/5/06 and has been an angel.

I was diagnosed with Graves disease (hyperthyroid auto immune disease) in September 2007 and have been trying to keep it under control with all kinds of treatments (most recently, a full thyroidectomy in 3/09)--fun hobby! Richard and I went to Europe for two weeks for what we call our belated honeymoon in Sept-October 2008 (you can read all about it by clicking the yellow "London Calling" link on the right side of this blog). Fall 2010 brought us a huge surprise..we found out we were expecting a baby in May 2011. He was born on May 19th to 3 very excited siblings and we named him Niles Arthur Elrey Melin. He is a wild man, which is how he earned the nickname, honey badger. In August 2013 we moved into a new larger house we built, not far from our first house. In May 2014, we welcomed our "caboose," Ammon Thatcher Layton Melin, to our family.

We live in Livingston (and HERE), where Rich was born and raised, five generations deep. He is (a total nut, of course) an insurance agent--a business we bought from his father after 30 years and an excellent reputation, so I get to stay home with my four wee-melins. Life is good in the northern town. Enjoy the blog!

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...