FAMILY LETTER 05.20.18

Dear Loved Ones,

It has been a dreamy week of beautiful Montana spring, warm days mixed with rainy days and thunderstorms, which does my Arizona heart good. I love some good monsoon thunder and lightning!

After I last wrote, the night of Mother’s Day, I could not sleep to save my life! I finally fell asleep after 4:25am, then I was up at 7 to get kids to school. I thought I might have to clear my schedule, but I went ahead with my day, attending Parent Advisory Committee at PHS, taking bison jerky and dried cherries to Heidi’s History class, doing laundry, filling the planters at Rich’s office with flowers, making dinner, and going to bed EARLY with no FHE lesson. Luckily I slept great that night and no FHE gave the 3 big kids time to spend the whole evening on school work as the year is coming to an end.  I have no recollection of Tuesday 5/15, except feeling better and cleaning the kitchen and staying up to help big kids on homework and having family prayers with just them after the little boys crashed. Oh! And James made an amazing dinner (with a little supervision) of grilled chicken, gemelli alfredo, and green salad. YUM! It was nice to have everyone home—that gets more rare as the girls get older and busier every few months. I’m still kind of amazed at what a short time we truly have our kids all to ourselves—the blink of an eye!!!

Wednesday was a gorgeous day and I thought for sure we would have a fun, sunny evening at the ball fields, but I was wrong. After picking up Ammon from preschool, I went by the store and grabbed some fried chicken and strawberries to chill for dinner. I also packed some carrots and celery and almonds and juice/water, excited for a ball park picnic. Well, the skies grew cloudy between 5 and 6, and though we started the game and ate dinner in peace, that wind and rain kicked up by 6:40. Rich had to leave for Scouts and YW right about that time, so he helped me pack up everything. I finished watching the game with Ammon and Grandma and Grandpa Melin, and I brought the little guys home for a bath and a snuggle. They are super into watching Zoboomafoo and Wild Kratts right now, so we watched 2 episodes and they were asleep before 8. Rich and the bigs came home and worked on school work for a while, then hit the hay, too.

Thursday I worked all day making green chili chicken for enchiladas and assembling red chili pork tamales. I was kind of bummed because even though I thought the tamale dough was a little thick, I went ahead and made them, then realized I had forgotten to add 3 cups of broth to the dough. They taste amazing, but they are not fluffy and tender like an abuelita’s and I was bummed. One of these days I’m gonna nail it. Have you guys seen the youtube video ad for the tamale spreader? That abuelita can crank out, like, 40 tamal husks in a minute-- #goals!! Thursday night we grilled burgers and I made the kids do chores to get ready for Hamlins (my Sister Sara’s family) visit and for Camporee. The girls were not happy about having to be home and help (Adie wanted to hang with her track friends because it was the last practice of the season, but since she was leaving at 6am for a 40-hour trip with them,  I said no, come home. This was not her favorite). We finally got everything under control and kids to bed by 10pm.

Friday Ammon had a playdate with Raef Johnson while I finished up prep cooking—enchiladas and birthday cake. That afternoon was rainy and Rich had to load up the scout trailer and head to Spring Camporee with James. This year they camped in a nearby quarry and learned about geology. They had a National Guard climbing wall, orienteering, biking, shooting—James was in 7^th heaven, and I think Rich was happy to finally be scouting with his own son. Meanwhile at home, Addie was gone to Glendive (6 hours east of here) for track divisionals, and Heidi was home with me and the little boys.  We celebrated Niles’ birthday eve with Happy Meals (and chicken strips with greens for us girls) and early bed times. So Saturday, Niles’ head popped off daddy’s pillow at 6:20am, screm-whispering, “Maaaaahhhm! I’m seven! Maaaaaahhhhm!” Argh. My seven year old wanted his birthday breakfast, so we got up and ate sausage and eggs and blueberry muffins while Ammon and Heidi slept in. Once Heidi was up, I ran to the store for some last minute birthday dinner items since Sara had texted that she was just leaving Great Falls at 9. Turns out she was actually arriving in Livingston, and I ran to the store just as she was coming to my house. Ooopsie! I came home and Sara helped me finish cleaning up, wrapping gifts, making and entire loaf of bread’s worth of sandwiches with apples, carrots, and chips for 7 kids. It was still rainy and kind of cold, so aside froma few forays out to the trampoline, the cousins had to make their own fun inside on the xbox, board games, making art, etc. Rich and James came home at 4pm and unpacked. Then they helped me get our Mexican Fiesta ready to celebrate Niles. The Jones family joined us for dinner. Just as we finished, Grandpa and Grandma Melin brought over some special guests—Mom and Dad Hite from Colorado Springs! It was such a fun reunion! We had cake and presents, then the kids whacked a guitar piñata out back. The Joneses and the grandparents left around 8pm, and all the cousins piled on the couch downstairs to watch “Coco” again (which they had watched with us in the theater on Thanksgiving).  Addie texted at 11pm asking me to pick her up at the HS from the track bus. It was nice to have her home. She was happy with her personal best throwing at divisionals and we are proud of her for trying something new and getting in such good shape.

Sunday 5/20 was Seminary Sacrament Meeting. Sara and her kids joined us, and the grandparents and the Hites were right behind us. Addie was the chorister, plus she spoke (along with the other 12 seminary students) about what she learned from the Book of Mormon. She spoke about Abinadi and how we can stand as witnesses, boldly, no matter the consequences, and we never can tell when a seed has been planted, even in just one heart like Alma’s. Every seed counts! All the kids shared good thoughts and testimonies. They also sang “Peace in Christ” again together. During the Sunday School hour, Rich and I took photos of the Hamlin kids before Sara took them home. It was so great to see them, and such a beautiful day for photos. The rest of Sunday consisted of lunch, naps, then taking the girls plus Robyn Jones, Naomi Johnson, and Margaret Baker over to the stake center in Bozeman for our stake women’s conference.  It was a sweet meeting, and the best thing I got out of it was inspiration for the music in Sacrament Meeting the next few months ;) It was a gorgeous night for a drive, and we got to watch the sun set as we dropped all our friends off. The girls and I ate some scrambled eggs and sausage for dinner and got to bed before 10 (the little guys were asleep when we got home). I love spending time with my girls; I will be so sad as they leave the nest, but our get-togethers thereafter are going to be EPIC cuz they are awesome.

We are so grateful for the beautiful weather and this gorgeous place we call home, for family and friends, and especially for Niles coming to our family seven years ago. Even though he was a huge surprise, I can’t imagine life without that amazing boy! We love and miss you all and wish you a wonderful week!

Love, Jamie and Rich and Family

Our town is a sea of trees!

***

Celebrating 7 Years with Niles!