Family Photos 2012

Here are not-a-few of some of my favorite pictures of our kiddos:

 Lucy and her beloved Boo.

 Emmy and her beloved Boo.

 Miles chose this spot (I think?!).  It's so him.

Last Weekend

I have a feeling this is going to be a very wordy post.  Just a fair warning.

Friday afternoon, after the boys came home from school, Miles and I rode our bikes downtown and voted.  Okay, just I voted - but I did let Miles push the "cast ballot" button.  It was grand to do it with Miles (I did it to help fulfill a cub scout requirement).  The whole entire bike ride there and back he's just chatting about one thing or another.  Pretty adorable.

Then at dinner time Ben's folks arrived.  We had a good evening and after the kids were up in their rooms, we adults watched the Halloween episode of The Middle.  So love that show.

Saturday morning.  Ben suggested earlier in the week that we do something on Saturday morning since his parents were going to be here.  While Ben probably would have rather gone out to breakfast or something, I suggested he tag-a-long on his bike while I ran.  I treasure (deeply treasure) my Saturday long-runs.  Ben kindly agreed and I loved having him with me on my 8-mile (give or take) run.  How did he fare?  Well he froze for all of it, but hopefully he still had a good time!  I'm sad we can't do that every week. . .

Later that morning we all drove down south of town and showed Ben's parents the new LDS chapel.  On our way back we stopped at the "boardwalk shops."  One of the shops there, a wood-carving shop, has a gigantic tree-house in front that the shop's owner built.  It's awesome - and that is an understatement.  The kids love running around and exploring the top and bottom of this great tree-house.

After we got home we helped Miles make an "outdoor meal."  Another cub scout requirement.  He loved it and it was fun to do it all together.  Jonas helped Grandpa mow/chop up our leaves - Jonas was super excited about helping out.

 Miles had planned to make sloppy-joes and serve chips with it.

 I show this picture for my sister's sake:  Chuck isn't the only husband who takes blurry photos.  :)

 Go, Jonas, Go!

 YUM.  (Well, kind of.  It wasn't my favorite - but I do blame it on the recipe.  I'll have to find a better one.  But it was still good, for sure.)

 Saturday afternoon was spent reading books, among other various things.

Once Lucy woke up from her nap and get fed, we got ready for our family pictures.  I'll post a bunch in a separate post.  The photo-shoot was pretty painless and I love the pictures we got.  As always, thanks to Ben's dad Jim!  Lucky us.

We got treated to Wendy's for dinner and that was perfect for us and the kids.  When we got back from Wendy's, I got Lucy down and then Ben and I left for a date.  We got some ice-cream and then went to Target to get a few miscellaneous items.  I like being with Ben and we figured we'd better take advantage of 1.  Ben's parents being there and 2.  Ben not being the bishop quite yet!  The older kids stayed up, had ice cream with Halloween candies for toppings, and watched a couple episodes from the original Addams Family.  That evening before the adults went to bed, Ben's dad gave Ben a father's blessing.  It was truly wonderful and inspired.  We wrote down all we could remember in Ben's journal before we went to bed.  We also watched a couple of LDS.org training videos on bishops.  In preparation for Sunday. . .

Sunday morning. . . was pretty long.  It was fast Sunday and church doesn't start until 1pm.  But it was nice to have Ben home (though he was working on other things, of course) - because 1.  he usually isn't and 2.  he won't be.  We got to church just a few minutes early.  Announcements were made and then the newly called bishopric was announced.

Miles had a huge grin on his face.  Jonas' jaw literally dropped open and he grinned - open-mouth and all - at me.  The girls were pretty oblivious at that point, I think.  Then Ben had to leave he little family and sit on the stand.  Sniff, sniff (then and now!).  It was fast-and-testimony meeting, of course, but instead the counselors and their wives (two counselors with ONE wife each :) spoke, as well as myself and then Ben concluded.  I was pretty darn shaky and flustered while I was speaking.  Sigh.  Ben was wonderful, in my opinion.  :)  I had to leave about 1/2 or 2/3 of the way in to his speaking because Lucy was becoming quite unruly.  She had demanded to go to her dad and when I wouldn't let her, she just got more mad.  As I was walking her out of the pew and towards the chapel doors, she did declare, "I want to kiss my daddy!"  It was so cute.

After the meeting Ben was ordained a High Priest by his father.  He was then set-apart to be the bishop (I once again had to leave as Lucy was again being unruly - that girl.).  I did get to go back in while Ben's dad went out and watched the kids.  After all that we - minus Bishop Ben - went home.  Ben got to come home for about 1 1/2 hours to eat dinner, etc.  Then he went back to the church at 7 and came home past midnight.  And so it begins. . .

But Monday morning Ben and I managed to squeeze in one more date!  How cool are we and how great are Ben's parents?  So!  Ben and I walked down to the local coffee shop (ahem, bishop) and got some yummy Mexican hot chocolate.  Again, I like being with him. Sigh.  Ben's parents left shortly after we got back - around 10:30.  The girls and I went to the library (on my bike with the trailer - I adore it) so that Ben could work on some nursing certification he's working on.  From 12:15 - 3 I got to go and help out in Jonas' classroom and makes tons of copies for Miles' teacher.  Fun times for me!  For FHE that night we went to the church to the bishop's office - Ben's office.  We watched Elder Oaks' talk, "Help, Bishop!"  Just a few minutes of it.  Lucy was being unruly again (do you notice a pattern with her. . . ????) and kind of soured the experience for me.  But it was still kind of fun.

Whoa, it's more wordy than I had thought.  I better stop.

Shocking, no?

This story begins a little over a year ago when the grounds were broken and thus the construction of a new LDS chapel began in the south-area of town.  Fast-forward a year.  The three wards here (We also have a branch.  It is a Spanish-branch and so the geographics don't apply to them.) knew that boundaries were going to be shifted - especially as one ward bordered both the old and new chapels.  There was a lot of speculation to what/where the boundaries were, how big of a change was this going to be, etc.  Only a few knew and they were not sharing!

I was pretty sure that we would be out (we, meaning my household) seeing as we are one of the North-est families - and our newly called bishop was one of the South-est (Do I sound like Dr. Seuss?).  I had moments of hope that maybe not!  maybe we'd still all be together!  "Who really knows?," was how many a conversations ended about this matter.

A week before Stake Conference Ben got a call from the Stake Executive Secretary, setting up an appointment for me and Ben to meet with the Stake President at 6:30pm on Stake Conference Sunday (October 21st).  (A note for Stake Exec. Sec.:  do not call a whole week before an appointment with the Stake President!  It produces too much anxiety. . .:)

So that whole week Ben and I stewed over all the possible callings it could be. . . High Councilor, Stake YM presidency, bishopric, bishop, Elders Quorum president, or some other completely random calling.  Ben never came forward with a definite "Yes, this is what it's going to be!"  Oh how I wanted him to.  :)

Stake Conference Sunday came.  By around 6pm (a 1/2 hour before our appointment) Ben said something to the effect of, "Ohhhh, I don't feel so good."  I kind of just laughed it off - knowing he wasn't coming down with an illness. . .

As we were driving on S. 12th street Ben said to me, "So some people are saying there might even be a new ward created."  I replied, "Hmmmm.  I heard a couple of people saying that."  Then I thought, "Oh crud!  He's going to be the bishop!"  And Ben's thought, that was later revealed during our appointment, was, "I wonder what the new ward would be called?  Hmm. . .the Black Canyon ward."

Ben was called that night to be the bishop of the new Black Canyon ward.

Ben knew it all along - but just doubted it.  No other possible calling settled with him, except that of bishop.  But he felt silly for even entertaining such a thought.  I think that is pretty much how I felt, too.  Deep down, I  knew what was going to happen.  I just couldn't/didn't/wouldn't admit to it.

But while neither Ben nor I would fully admit to it before knowing it, everybody else sure has!  By golly.  That morning at Stake Conference a good friend came up to Ben and said, without knowing that we were even meeting with President Taylor that night, "So, have they called you as the new bishop!?"  Then many people since have commented to me or Ben something along the lines of, "So, you going to be the new bishop of the ward?"  or "So and so leaned over and said, 'I bet Ben is going to be the bishop!'"  or "We're just taking bets about you being the new bishop," (spoken by the Young Men Ben has served this past year. . . many of which we no longer be in our ward).  Even at work Ben got it from two members, "Ohhhh, I bet you're going to be in the bishopric, or even the bishop!"  (One week after Stake Conference our area wards had a special sacrament meeting.  At this meeting the new ward was officially announced.  No bishop/bishopric was announced at this time.  The names of 2 other wards in our area got changed.  Boundaries were described and greatly shifted.)

Really!?  Why was it so obvious to everyone else but us?  :)  We've had to keep mum about this for the past 2 weeks.  I could tell my parents because, and only because, they are in Japan.  Ben got to tell his parents so that they could make arrangements to come down here and have Ben's father ordain him a High Priest.  It got hard to know what to say to, "So we think Ben is going to be the new bishop!"  I just started saying, "That is so funny!  Everyone is saying that. . ."

To put down our emotions on this is just frankly too hard.  Emotions range from complete fear and feelings of being totally overwhelmed - to being excited about such a wonderful opportunity for Ben, for us, for our family, and for the Black Canyon ward.  However, I think "overwhelmed" is Ben's state of mind most of the time. .. :)  Ben lost over 5 pounds in the first week after receiving this call.  I cannot even imagine what he is feeling.

I still shed a few tears now and then.  I kept getting choked up at church when the announcement of the new ward was officially made.  Choked up for so many reasons.  Choked up for my husband and the burdens he will share and deal with over the next few + years.  Choked up by the simple fact that my husband is a bishop.  Choked up for the many friends that are now in different wards.  Choked up a lot of times for who knows what exactly.  Something I just can't describe.

So, shocking, no?  I still am in a little bit of shock. . . I'm not sure it has fully hit me.  But one thing is that neither Ben nor I have doubted or questioned the call.  Is it crazy?  You betcha.  Is it totally crazy?  Uh-huh. But is it right?  Sigh, I guess so. . .I mean, Yes!

Halloween 2012!

We had a busy and fun Halloween.  Emmy had gymnastics in the morning and Lucy got to participate in it a lot, as well.  Right from gymnastics we went home, finished a few bites of lunch, then walked over to school to help out at Jonas' class party.

 First up, bobbing for apples!  Jonas is pretty awesome at this, meaning he can actually get an apple (or more)!  An apple without a stem, mind you.

 Yes, he dunks his entire head in and somehow manages to bite one.  It's impressive.

 My cute gang at Jonas' class.

 Just because I think they are cute.

 Our very un-posh dinner:  "candy corn" pizza, jack-o-lantern orange, and frankenstien pudding.

Now, presenting my kids and their costumes:

 Lucy, aka Curious George.

 Emmy, aka Fancy Nancy.

 A close-up.

 Jonas, aka Luke Skywalker.

 Miles, aka Harry Potter.

 The gang before trick-or-treating.

 Strike a pose!

 Ah, yes, Curious George and the Man With the Yellow Hat.  Only we never found a yellow hat. . .

 Who knew Harry Potter was such a gentleman?

 The cuties out trick-or-treating - so fun!  Lucy had finally realized what it was all about (getting candy) and was totally in to it as evidenced by her expression here.

 All done.  Time to dump, check out the candy, and eat.  Lucy was a funny eater:  she'd eat a few bits of something and then want to try something else.

 LOVE this picture of Emmy eating her candy.  Classically cute.

And because it was a school night, 20-minutes of reading were still enforced.  Indeed that is Harry Potter reading Harry Potter.

And just because I don't have enough pictures, here is a video (Lucy is usually such a talker, but her mind and mouth were occupied with that candy that was in her mouth. . .:)

So. . . it won't upload my video.  I'll try later, but I don't think it will work.  Bummer.

Uncle Derek

So Uncle Derek and his girlfriend Renee came for a short visit last night.  They hail from Alaska, so quite the distance for them.  They spent some time in Littleton with Renee's brother and his family.  Then us.  Then who knows where else?  :)

Emmy was SUPER excited about having Derek come.  She asked me all day long - "When is Uncle Derek going to come?"  I was hoping he'd live up to her expectations. . . and he did.  She played all over him and he was great.  What an uncle!  He and Renee also brought some sweet gifts for everyone:  smoke salmon for we adults, adorable hats and mittens and a yo-yo for the girls, and rubber-band guns and socks for the boys.  The kids treasure them!

Here are 2 shots of the same thing, just because I can't decide which one is better.

I loved meeting Renee and just visiting with both of them.  They are both very cool.  :)

The Grass Stains

Saturday was the Grass Stains last soccer game.  They had gone . . . undefeated for the entire season.  Despite that, they were actually a good team - really!  Even though there were scores like 0-05 or even 0-10, they played well.  They would probably get the "most improved" award if there was such a thing.  Their biggest downfall?  There was not one aggressive kid on the team.  There were kids who could dribble well, defend great, and goalie great - but no one aggressively went after the ball nor aggressively kept the ball.  Ben loved his little team, though.  They were just a bunch of sweet, good kids with great, supportive families.

 Goalie Emmy!  With the super "defender of the line" who literally just stayed right on the line.  He was awesome.

 She's getting ready!

 Yay!

 Thar she goes.

Ben and I wanted to get the kids medals - most teams in the district receive something on their last game.  We looked a little too late and it would have cost a bit more than we wanted, so be made our own medals.  With washers.  They were a hit.  I'll have to get a close up some time.

 Here is Ben presenting Emmy with her medal.  Her "gold medal" as she calls it.

Good job Grass Stains!  Oh, and their last game was by far the best game they ever played.  They were super fantastic.  The ending score:  2-3.  So close!  (We had only scored one other goal the last 5 games. . . so 2 was a huge deal for us!)

F is for Friendship Fruit Pizza

This week was my turn hosting preschool.  I was doing it on friendship (the letter "F").  On Thursday we made Friendship Fruit Pizza.

 Each girl rolled out their cookie dough/pizza crust.  Then I baked them.  While they were baking each girl had a fruit and chopped them up - bananas, strawberries, grapes, and kiwis.

 After the cookies cooled a bit, the girls frosted it with a sweetened cream-cheese mix and then they topped it how they wanted.  Then they had to wait until everyone was finished so I could get a picture of the cuties with their yummies.

Lucy is ever-present at our preschool, of course.  I didn't make her wait. . . 

P.S.  The adorable aprons were made my another mom.  I love them!

a Video and a Joke

I don't know why the girls started singing this, but they did.  On their own.  When I started recording them I didn't want them to see the camera - so as not to inhibit their song (thus the few seconds of me recording our wall).  The video picture ends up fuzzy, but at least it captured their song!

Unrelated:
Jonas brought home a book full of school jokes.  Like all jokes - some are funny, some not at all.  Anyways, as I was reading a Fancy Nancy book there was a joke on the side of the page and so I thought Jonas would appreciate it.

I read, "What do you call a 100-year old ant?"

Jonas replied. "A dead ant."

True, oh so true.

(the real answer:  "an antique")

Harry Potter Closet

The boys (well, first just Miles) begged to sleep in the Harry Potter closet (yes, a real life closet under the stairs. . . :).  We said "on the weekend."  The weekend came and so on Saturday night the boys got to sleep in their cozy space amidst winter coats galore.  They didn't fall asleep until later, but they slept fine all night!  Crazies.

P.S.  On a slightly related note:  the boys are currently locked inside their bedrooms.  Ben is currently trying to get them out.  It hasn't worked out yet.  (It's been about 30 minutes.)  They didn't do anything I guess - except for shutting their door.  We have antique knobs and they are rather tricky at times.  Times like this apparently.  Miles is happy about the whole situation  because he had just been banished to sleeping in the basement all week - "Yay!  I don't have to go to the basement yet!"  Lest you think Miles is that sneaky, the door was locked before he was given his exile orders. . .

Update:  2 hours later and the boys are freed.  It was a grand adventure for the boys, I'm sure.  The credit card trick didn't work.  The wire trick (Ben's own idea) didn't work.  Ben ended up having to take off some trim to get access.  Blah.  Not exactly what Ben wanted to spend his Sunday evening doing. . . 

Our Weekend and an Update

Conference weekend was nice.  Friday night I went to my book-club and, as always, completely enjoyed it. We missed the Saturday morning session of conference as Emmy had a soccer game.  While their team is definitely improving, they have yet to score a goal - well, a goal in their opponent's net (I think at least a couple have been scored in their own net. . . ).  There were some moments when I thought for sure they would score, but alas.  Their team, the Grass Stains, are super cute, though.  Just a bunch of somewhat timid and sweet kids.  No need to mention the game's score. . .

I went to church in the afternoon and watched that session.  It was nice.  I got home, we went on a family bike ride, ate dinner, and then Ben headed out to Priesthood session.  Jonas helped me make some cookies while Miles was working on his homework (he'd also been temporarily banned from my presence. . .).  When Ben got home the boys had cookies and milk and Ben shared what the men had spoken on during the priesthood session.  Ben and I have done that since we've been married, but this was the first time the boys had been "invited."  It was great and the boys had good thoughts and questions.

Sunday morning we had our "Swedish baked pancakes."  YUM.  This is our 4th year of making them for conference Sunday.  (Think thick crepes.)  Then we all went to church and watched the morning session.  While Ben and I don't get the fullest out of it since we were trying to deal with our kids, it's still super nice to go to church.  During the afternoon session we watched it at home.  Lucy napped for 1/2 of it and the older 3 kids got to play "conference bingo."  Something they always look forward to and love.  It was a good weekend.

So I'll try and do a little update on the fam (but they always tend to turn out not so "little". . .)

Ben:  He is working on an advanced certification in surgical nursing, called a First Assistant.  When he completes the course/training, he'll be able to do more hands-on assisting with surgeries (like suturing up patients, etc.).  He is still the Young Men's president, but we do have some boundary changes happening at the end of the month and so we'll see what happens.  He likes coaching Emmy's team and thinks he'll do it again.

Me:  I am enjoying my runs with Lucy.  Plus, I got a second-hand bike trailer and I love riding the girls in it.  They love it, too.  Especially Emmy.  I picked up Emmy with the bike trailer twice this week from her pre-school - it made her so happy.  I did an even longer trek and rode out to this Mostly Music program we sometimes go to on Friday mornings.  It's totally fun just being out, but it's work, too!  Luckily my girls are relatively small!  I worked on the Primary's sacrament meeting program, only to have the date moved 2 weeks earlier.  That meant a lot of things, but mainly:  1.  I am going to be the only one from the presidency there that day, and 2.  I had to pretty much disregard my program and come up with something else (the something else is much simpler and didn't take much work.  At least I did get practice with writing a program, right!?).  Our primary has not and will not do a single practice in the chapel.  Wish us luck.

Miles:  He is 1/2 way through the 3rd Harry Potter book.  He enjoyed the first 2 and is liking this one, too.  He has chosen to be Harry Potter for Halloween and I'm excited to work on his costume.  He does well in school and is very smart.  But that doesn't mean his spelling is great, nor does that necessarily mean he always remember his capitalizations.  Sigh.  He is not a social butterfly at school.  He is in no way shy, but just independent.  He'll read at recess and things like that.  Kids like him (at least I think!), but he just does his own thing mostly.  We have 2 friends come over to our house on Wednesdays (their mom is our Relief Society president and she is also a teacher at the school this year).  One boy is in 2nd and the other in 5th.  Miles loves having the 5th grader over and they seem to have a lot of fun together.

Jonas:  He wrote some pretty classic stories this week.  He wrote 3 of them, but I'll share the one where he is a character:  Title:  Jonas and Bella.  "Jonas and Bella got mered (married).  They kist.  Bella had a babe gril named Lucy.  They liv haple evr aftr."  His others were titled, "Alonzo and Bella," and "Alonzo and Aayiana."  The kids all liked it and asked him to write more.  Ha.  Even his teacher asked me if I had read his stories.  :)  He, too, is an advanced reader.  I would also say he's advanced in math, too - though I have not been "officially" informed of that.  But he's actually pretty good at it; he catches on quickly.  He always wants to have his best buddy, Jake, over.  He sometimes cries when it doesn't work out.  He really likes the 2nd grader (Gabe) who comes over on Wednesdays.  They are great buds, too.  We're not totally sure on what he'll be for Halloween, but we're thinking the Indian, Little Bear, from The Indian in the Cupboard (we're trying to stick to a literary theme).

Emmy:  She adores her preschools and everyday asks, "Is it school for me today?"  I'm still completely convinced we did the right thing in not starting her this year, though.  I think she is a little less mature than her brothers were at this point, and she is also less academically inclined.  It's not that she's not smart, she's just kind of lazy.  Emmy and I will do some "school" a couple of times a week and she always begs to do her "computer reading" (www.starfall.com).  But, oftentimes, half-way through she complains she is "tired."  But she is doing alright with reading and I think she'll be fine (at least I hope so!).  She and Lucy have been playing so wild lately!  They each seem to love it - until one of them gets hurt. . .  But they are fun, cute sisters.  She loves singing in the bike-trailer and is completely adorable as she does so.  She wants to be Fancy Nancy for Halloween.  Perfect!

Lucy:  I don't know where to start or stop with this gal.  She's not so perfect anymore - she has her tantrums, her obstinance (which spell-checker is telling me is not a word, but I think it's prefect for her), her sometimes scratching behavior, etc.  But she just packs so much personality in her little body that she's just irresistible, really.  She really loves to talk.  She uses the toilet at times.  She loves gymnastics and tells everybody that she does it and then shows them some of her moves (headstands, handstands, leg up in the air, etc.).  It's great.  Although she is the youngest child, she definitely does not act like it.  She's a boss.  She's a leader.  She's a director.  She's a hoot.

The end.