Tuesday, April 30, 2013

Pondering Lives Well-Lived

April has been quite the whirlwind. I figured now that there are only 2 hours left of it I should write something. I just posted all of our spring break photos, and since then I haven't taken many pictures. There was a relative lull in the middle of the month, just busy, regular stuff. But then on April 23rd I learned that our old family friend from Tucson, Ann Lewis (formerly McClellan) passed away. We made arrangements to meet my mom down in Idaho for the funeral.
Here I am with Mitch McClellan, who was one of my best friends til I moved across town for middle school. I had a crush on him when we were 8, but then I had a growth spurt and grew about a foot taller than him and thought I'd have to marry someone else, lol. He is doing so great, living in Boise with a beautiful family. It was a pretty joyous reunion on an otherwise sad day.
 
Here are 8 of the 10 McClellan kids at their mom Ann's grave (Mitch is #8). They gave a beautiful funeral service for her that was one of the most fun, uplifting services I have ever been to--she must have been so pleased.
It was a nice, quick trip--I even got to see both of my parents, which is cool.
 

We got home Saturday night, then I sent Rich off to a two-day insurance conference in Great Falls Sunday afternoon. Once I got the kids to bed, I watched a Ken Burns biography of Frank Lloyd Wright on Netflix. It was surprisingly riveting and entertaining. I wish I knew more about architecture. I was so fascinated by the story and by his style and philosophy, and there seems to be something holy about this art form, like many others--so much more than drawings or engineering or construction.
Here's FLW nearing 90, at the peak of his career...petulant genius!

Here are a couple of quotes from the film that I loved. "For him, what an artist is, is a person who transforms nature by looking at nature, passing it through the soul, and in the expression of what the soul experiences in nature, something more natural than nature itself emerges, which is as close as we get to God." -William Cronon, historian.

AMEN! [to me, creativity is the manifestation of my divine nature, inherited from heavenly parents].

Read at Wright's funeral at Taliesin: "Whoso would be a man must be a non-conformist. Nothing is at last sacred but the integrity of your own mind."-RW Emerson.
Wright's home and studio in Oak Park Illinois was so beautiful! I loved his idea of putting the fireplace in the center of the home, as the heart and soul and gathering place of the building.

So Richard is home safe, all my people are sound asleep (I'm typing to a chorus of snores). Life is good. Our underground construction got inspected today (water main, sewer, etc.) so we will be able to pour the basement floor in the next day or two and start framing. Our builder said he's excited for that because, "That's when your vision starts to take shape." Indeed! So happy May to you all. I hope to be back a little more frequently, but we'll see if life cooperates.

Early April 2013: Retrospect

On March 29th the kids were out of school and it was too cold to hang out outside for long, but we bought some balloons and let them go out by the park to celebrate Great-Grandpa Bill's 88th birthday.

James, Niles, Heidi, and Addie 3/29


3-2-1 Lift-off!
 
If you look close you can see 4 balloons floating north east (Niles' balloon is closest because he didn't want to let his go at first)
 
***
 
After Easter Baskets and Sacrament Meeting on Easter Sunday (March 31st), I hopped in the van with the kids and headed down to Utah for Spring Break. Our first stop that night was The Layton's in Tooele.
Niles and Addie, James, Owen, and Heidi at Laytons', 4/1

James, Jack, Jake, Heidi, and Sam;
On Tuesday, April 2 (Happy Birthday, Great Uncle Matt!) we met our Peterson & Postum cousins at Thanksgiving Point. We were happy to learn that our Museum of the Rockies memberships get us in to the fun stuff at TGP!

James on a pony at TGP

Niles imitating a goat at TGP with cousin Belle
 
***
Later that evening, we went to the Herriman Rec Center to swim at their awesome water park with our Postie cousins who just moved back from Australia (no pictures, sorry!). It was super fun! Wednesday we just had a bunch of playdates with cousins & got ready to drive to Las Vegas at 5am Thursday. The drive was perfect, the kids were great. We realized that we would gain an hour crossing the Nevada border, so we stopped and had a nice breakfast and played at the playplace in Beaver, Utah. Then we drove to the airport in LV and picked up Daddy (Rich) at noon and headed over to visit the Holm Family in Henderson.
 
We went to watch Haylee Holm play basketball at the church, and they needed another player, so Addie jumped right in and did a great job--her first time ever even trying to play! Kurt was the coach and they played two games--one win, one loss--and we went home and had soup and visited with Jessica & Zach and the whole family that night.
 
The next day (Friday, April 5th), Haylee and Eric went to school and Kurt and Zach went to work. Jessica and Debbie took us downtown to see the planes landing at the airport, then see fun things on the strip.
First stop: ride the tram to Bellagio and see the giant chocolate fountain and the gardens. Here is my biggest chocolate fan, James, in front of the fountain.


Here's our family at the gardens



walking past Paris, Las Vegas



Addie outside the M&M store
 
On the 4th floor of M&M World we found this M&M racecar


On the 2nd floor, we found the M&Ms!

Every M&M you can think of!

Hello Kitty with Heidi & Addie on the strip

Addie & Coke World
***
After a long hot day on the strip, we took a nap at Debbie's while she & Haylee took the girls shopping. Deb brought home a birthday cake and Kurt brought pizza and we had an early birthday party for Heidi.

Niles made a huge cupcake mess
Heidi with her dragon cake. She got a cute little pony from the Holms and an iPod Touch she has been earning from us. She cried!


Niles sneaking a taste

What James looked like Saturday morning at Holms'
Saturday Morning we packed up and said goodbye to our dear friends and hit the road just in time to listen to the beginning of conference on the radio. We drove to Herriman where Rich went to priesthood meeting with Mark & Marshall. Grandma Lyn was at my mom's house so we visited with her for a while, then slept over at the Posties' house that night and Sunday night.
Cousin Fun with Posties: Spencer, Gavin, Liam & Melanie laughing at Owen & James.

Laytons came over for dinner Sunday night; Here's James, Heidi, Niles, Owen, and Maeby on the deck.


Kristen, Melanie, Sam, Audrey, Will, Spencer, Addie, Liam, and me eating inside Sunday night.
***
 
We drove home early Monday morning in a rain & snow storm, but got home in time to watch them start the basement of our new house on Tuesday, April 9th.
Here's the ground all graded and the house outlined.

James & Heidi in the digger.

On April 11th, Addie's class had a Pasta Dinner fundraiser for the Trout unlimited/Watershed Warriors program at school. They dressed up like Italian waiters and served us a really nice dinner.
 

Wednesday, March 20, 2013

My Lynners

The first week of March was like Mom's Hell Week up in here, with a zillion appointments and commitments all piled into five days. Toward the end of the week, one of the most demanding days was Parent Teacher Conference day--3 meetings, back-to-back. With the streak of luck we've had lately (you may have heard our house we are selling has been under contract for 107 days and counting), I wasn't exactly looking forward to conferences.
 
They turned out to be a gold-medal moment for me, for which I am grateful. I really needed that.
So thanks, kids and teachers.
 
There was a moment that deeply touched and changed my heart, though, that I really need to record.
 
Back story: it's no secret that our Heidi Lynn is a spirited girl who has challenged us at every turn (and may still). I have been trying desperately to bridge a gap in our relationship for a few years (the gap has many factors, including that she's my mini-me, only with no fear, so sometimes we clash, and also that I was in a deep and horrific and drawn-out depressive episode when she was born and took a nosedive for a few months thereafter), praying that her worst acting-out wasn't spreading to other relationships/places (you know, keep a tight lid on The Crazy--only freak out at home, that's our family motto, lol).
my favorite picture of Heidi--17 months old
 
A recent self-portrait Heidi left on my iPad
Well, her teacher sat me down at the conference and showed me her grades and some of her work as usual. There was nothing to worry about. But then she pushed all that aside and said, "There is something else that's not on these papers that I want you to know. As a mother, I would want to know this." (Uh-oh) She proceeded to tell me that Heidi is a one-of-a-kind kid, that she is friendly and sensitive and hyper-aware. She said Heidi is the most empathetic child she has ever met, and that she has these deep emotional reactions to the historical fiction they are reading and the issues they discuss in social studies. She speaks up when she notices injustices, in her reading and in the classroom. She always comforts people who are sad or hurt, even people who aren't very nice to her. "In short," her teacher said, "Heidi has a SOUL--this huge, generous, loving soul. You can't teach that at school. You should be proud of her."

  I SO AM.

 
Lynners, I am so lucky to be your mom! I am so under qualified, it's not even funny, but you are teaching me so much and making me a better person. I am so sorry when I hurt you or I don't understand you. I hope you know I am trying super hard and repenting all the time. Most of all I hope when you're all grown up, you will remember how much we love you, how much you have lit up our family and made it a hundred times more fun and exciting and hilarious. You are beautiful, smart, kind, capable, talented...a blessing to me and to the whole world who gets to know you.
I almost forgot! Here is a link to one of my favorite stories about Heidi. She really does love animals and Jesus with all her precious heart.

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

Arizona Christmas Slideshow

Move your mouse over the photo and to the bottom and press pause of you want to linger longer...(it goes pretty fast...

Tuesday, February 19, 2013

Many Days, Few Photos

The combination of navigating Windows 8 and navigating our minimalist dwelling space has made it kind of hard to do photos like I used to. But I think I am getting my mojo back, so here are the only photos I have taken of 2013 thus far. I hope to do better now that we are temporarily settled.
We came home from Christmas in Arizona to enjoy a visit from the Texas Melins.
We had a New Years Eve Party at the ranch house and the dads put on a fireworks show to ring out the old year as the rest of the family watched from the deck. It was pitch black and I was trying to maneuver the camera with gloves on, so the pictures aren't great, but it was magical. L-R: Liana, Adeline, Sariah, Samantha, Aunt Elena, Heidi, Grandma Melin, James, Jared, Uncle Mike, and Niles.

James & Sariah watching the fireworks.
I wish I were a good enough photographer to capture the beauty of the
fireworks glittering on the river.

New Year's ooo's & ahhh's

Liana & Addie

On New Year's Day, we met at Pine Creek to sled and cross-country ski, roast dawgs & marshmallows, sip hot cocoa, and enjoy the family. Here is Grandma Melin with her girls on the trail...four pretty girls!
Jared & James, cousin buddies

Jared & James eating hot dogs

James pulling Niles on a sled

Daddy kept everyone warm...fun way to start the year!
***
Once the holidays were over, we had to get packed and ready to move. We had to say goodbye to Heidi's paper elephants...

I made them for her room back in 2007, but it was time to throw them out.


***
On Monday, January 28th, Addie had her first band concert, playing my old flute.
She's a natural!



***
On Presidents' Day (2/18) I took the kids to the new Rainforest Adventure exhibit at the Museum of the Rockies, then lunch at Burger King (the only place with a playground for wild Niles), then some groceries at Costco & Walmart and home for naps. We got some bubbles while we were at Wally and enjoyed the sunshine for a while...spring is only a few blizzards away!
 









More photos soon...until then, here's the official song of February & March...

FAMILY LETTER 07.28.19

Dear Loved Ones,                                                                                                        We have just ...