Us

  

This last month has been an odd one for us. First, Rob was assigned to work nighters for a couple of weeks. After the kids went to bed, he would head out the door in sub-freezing temperatures to work out on the freeway. His assignment? Oversee grouting underneath I-15 and US-89 in North SL. Then, in the blink of an eye (my eye, at least) he would be home. He’d sit at the table trying to finish his reports and not fall asleep until about 10:30 when he’d head upstairs to sleep in interrupted abundance until 2:30 or so. We’d all enjoy the afternoon together, he’d go back upstairs for an early evening nap, and then leave again. It was a weird schedule, but doable temporarily. It was fun having some extra daytime hours with him.

Then came the assignment for Rob to go to Morenci, AZ for 3 weeks. Rob has worked hard to avoid travelling for work too much. I have worked hard arranging for me and the kids to go with him whenever it’s unavoidable. This time, Rob needed to go and, this time, the family wasn’t able to go with him. Nate has already missed 3 weeks of school while we went to Denver, it is a drive of 13 hours to Morenci (which is basically in the middle-of-nowhere desert of south-eastern Arizona), and we already have a family trip planned for the week after he gets back. So, he was stuck going and we were stuck staying. He did, however, negotiate to be able to come home for a few days in the middle.

Before he left we had a few days together as a family to hang out. Rob and I also went on a really great date to Park City where we shopped and ate dinner. I also wanted to get some portraits together. Our wall has some spots that need filling-in and I decided I wanted another one of us up there. 

The first week he was gone was so busy for me planning a birthday party and all sorts of other to-dos. It went by relatively quickly, even if it was a little stressful.

Then his weekend home came and it was so filled with fun! We celebrated his and Madeleine’s birthdays (post to come later) and just generally enjoyed being together as a family.

Now he’s gone again. But, he says the work is going quickly and he is hoping to come home a few days early, so that’s fantastic! The kids and I sure miss him. His happy-go-lucky spirit is such a joy to have here.

I’m so grateful for the technology now that enables us to communicate so readily with each other. He and Caroline even shared some chips together over FaceTime (video chat app). Nate prays every day that his dad won’t get bit by a rattlesnake or fire ants or get stung by a black scorpion. Madeleine misses wrestling with him.

Rob, I love you!! So much!

            

1st Place in Photography

Nope, Rob didn’t win this title. Nope, I didn’t either. Nate did!

 

 

Nate has picked up on how much fun taking pictures can be. He makes sure there’s enough light. He focuses. He frames the subject just right. Then he makes adjustments if the shot isn’t exactly what he had in mind. 

For Christmas he got his own camera. He has enjoyed photographing and taking videos of himself and his sisters playing. We never even taught him how to use it. He just picked it up and was off and running.

Last Fall, his school held a Reflections contest. The theme was: Diversity Means... Rob asked Nate if he wanted to participate and sure enough, he did. There was a whole list of things he could do: write a story, draw a picture, etc. But of course, he chose photography. We didn’t give him any ideas as to what he should photograph and why. Rob explained what diversity meant and Nate decided he wanted to color some rocks and take a picture of them. Fantastic idea!

Nate went to work coloring. Then he gathered his rocks onto the deck and snapped some photos. Rob imported them into Lightroom, Nate chose his favorite and then pumped up the colors a little bit. We printed it and mounted it on stiff cardboard for the presentation.

Guess what?! He WON! Nate got 1st place in photography in the entire school. How COOL is that?! Here’s where the sad part comes in. Rob put Nate’s email address on the entry form, not thinking that that was the form of communication the PTA President would use to notify the parents the day before the award assembly. We had NO idea until the next week and had completely missed the entire thing. I wanted to cry. Actually, maybe I did. Nevertheless, Nate was stoked to have won and when we had gotten back to school a week later (we were in Denver) his teacher gave him his gold medal.

 

You should have seen that kid walk towards me with it around his neck. I’ll never forget how proud and happy and excited he was. He was even pumping his fist. He also got a certificate, some free activity/kids meals coupons, and went on to the next level of competition (which he didn’t win. But that’s totally ok).

I’m going to be framing his photograph and hanging it over his bookshelf by his bead. I’m so proud of this kid. He’s the best!

Allen + Cupcake

...Because everyone loves pictures of kids covered in food...

Nate As Of Late

The biggest news first. Drumroll please…Nate has one less tooth in his head. Well, kind of. His permanent tooth had half-way grown in behind his baby tooth, so for a while he had one more tooth in his head. But now he’s back on track without even a hole. That’s convenient!

 

Nate is such a great kid. It would take me hours to write everything great about him. Here’s just a sample of what he’s been up to as of late.

This kid talks, and talks and talks. Still. He explains everything step-by-step. He asks questions until he understands, which usually doesn’t take very long at all.

He gets sucked into Infomercials. Granted, they do seem to be written at a young child’s level. He will try to convince me we need whatever gadget is being sold. “Mom! It comes with a free cupcake holder! It’s very powerful! But dad will have to buy it because it’s hundreds of dollars.”

Nate is a great friend. He tells me all the time that he doesn’t know why some kids are mean to other kids. We talked the other day about Ely and how it might be hard for him to make friends because he is partially blind and gets frustrated with things easily. I overheard him tell someone that he was working hard to become Ely’s friend. That sure made a mom’s morning.

Nate is the best big brother. He plays with his sisters to no end. He’ll put up with their emotional swings and bossiness. He’ll make them laugh. They love him with all the little sister love they’ve got.

Nate can get very stressed out when trying to make decisions. Hmmm, sounds familiar to me. Sometimes he’ll tell me to just make the decision for him. Again, sounds familiar to me.

He hates being put on a timer. This stresses him out more than anything, I think. Panic attacks including hyperventilating and crying usually ensue.

Nathan ponders. When he is told or taught something, especially gospel-oriented, he ponders and then asks very thoughtful questions. Similar experiences happen routinely. Just the other night we read and talked about Mosiah 27:9 “…causing much dissension among the people; giving a chance for the enemy of God to exercise his power over them.”  Well, tonight he asked Rob, “If children break the commandments, will the devil have power over them?” Rob gently explained that the devil doesn’t have any power over children; that Heavenly Father loves and protects him.

Rob and I love our high-spirited, highly-spiritual son.

Valentine’s Day-Oh, Listen What I Say-Oh

Side Note: Weird that this is the second blog post title where I’ve randomly used RHCP lyrics. Strange that they would come to my mind so readily..

Anyway, on to V-Day. One of my goals as of late is to be more fun with holidays. Many times I feel like they stress me out and give me more things to do. I need to enjoy them more. So I volunteered to help with Nate’s Valentine’s Day party at school. Lo-and-behold, out of chance, it fell on me to actually be the planner of the party with 5 other moms whom I had never met. So much for not stressing…

The party did end up going well. We played Valentine’s BINGO with candy hearts, did a cakewalk (with cookies), and passed out valentine’s, of course. I swear, the kids get as much candy on this day as on Halloween. Crazy.

Well, that morning when I surprisingly had a few extra minutes I decided to take some cute pictures of the girls in their new outfits Grandma and Grandpa Snow gave them.

      

 

 

 

Later after the kids went to bed Rob made 2 fondues, one cheese and one chocolate, for us to enjoy together. And, boy, did we! He went all out buying baguettes and apples to dip into the Gruyere and Emmenthal and added caramel and hazelnut to the chocolate. Yum, yum, and more yum!

It goes without saying that we had a fun day.

The Decemberistas

Here is some randomness from December. Enjoy!

 

 

 

           

 

Beard documentation.

 

These are some of the flowers given at Grandma Snow’s funeral. They’re beautiful.

 

Nephew: Aiden

Here is the newest member of our extended family, Aiden James.

Looking at these pictures makes me want to go take a nap. Congrats to Mark and Cammie!

Outside in Colorado

 

After we visited the Butterfly Pavilion in Denver we wandered the grounds for a little while.

           

At the time, Caroline was REALLY into eating rocks. Doesn’t she look super guilty? The snotty nose just works here.

Here are some sunset shots I took. No enhancements were done, the colors in the sky were really this beautiful.

 

I love the softness of the last one. Again, no enhancements were done.

Stuff I Love

Here are a few things I’m into lately.

Music: Andrew Bell

I’m just in love with his music. It’s angst-ridden and romantic, which I tend to like. Here is his official webpage where you can hear his terrific tunes. I suggest “The Ladder” and many others, really. His new EP will be available for pre-order on iTunes on Valentine’s Day.

 

Travel: NYC

I was antsy for a trip and found $80 airfare to New York. We were already planning on going next year, but why wait with airfare like that?! I’ve been busy putting together our Plan of Attack on the city. I don’t have all the details yet, but it includes miles of walking, thousands of photographs, and fronting as upper-west-siders (think: You’ve Got Mail) or as Brooklyn Heights residents as we will probably rent an apartment rather than stay in a hotel. I’m stoked to work our way through the city, first through the eyes of immigrants, then weaving our way through the villages of the free-thinkers, and finally, up the ladder to peek through the eyes of socialites.

 

Netflix: Tv and Movies
Life in a Day

”A documentary shot by filmmakers all over the world that serves as a time capsule to show future generations what it was like to be alive on the 24th of July, 2010.”

WhiteCollar

”A white collar criminal agrees to help the FBI catch other white collar criminals using his expertise as an art and securities thief, counterfeiter and racketeer.”

Lie To Me
 
”Dr. Cal Lightman teaches a course in body language and makes an honest fortune exploiting it. He's employed by various public authorities in various investigations, doing more when the police fail to go the extra mile.”

 

Buying or Receiving: Flowers