Simple Gifts

My Simple Gifts:

Joe - best friend and calm to my turbulent storm
My Children - teachers of humility, sacrifice, and love
My Moms - joy and sunshine, laughter and tears, best girls-get-away makers
My Dads - priesthood blessings and unconditional love
My Brothers and Sisters - examples and eternal friends
The gospel of Jesus Christ - peace, refuge and the knowledge of eternal families
Music - beauty
Friends and neighbors - strength and belonging
Visiting Teachers - comfort and lesson on Simplicity:

"We can’t predict all the struggles and storms in life, not even the ones just around the next corner, but as persons of faith and hope, we know beyond the shadow of any doubt that the gospel of Jesus Christ is true and the best is yet to come," ("Let Him Do It with Simplicity," Elder L. Tom Perry).

Happy Thanksgiving!

Happy Halloween

Jared really did end up a Grim Weeper for Halloween after all. His mask kept slipping and he couldn't keep up with his friends trick-or-treating, so he ended up at home in tears for a bit before going out again with his brother and sister. Rachel complained about her hat, saying it was too itchy (I wonder if she has eczema again), and almost didn't make it out trick-or-treating at all. She cheered up though when she finally got candy. Brock loved it and shouted Trick or Treat as loudly as he could at each house. The kids partied at a city Halloween Carnival the night before and loved it, so I suppose Halloween was a semi-success.

A Marathon

We went to St. George earlier this month to visit Gran and Grandpa Saurey and cheer for our friend Landon as he ran the St. George Marathon. Landon did great – despite the rain! The rain poured down the entire race. I ascribe it to luck: it’s only rained twice in the Marathon’s 30 year history. The last time it rained? 25 years ago.

The Grim

I asked the children what they want to be for Halloween. Jared said, "I want to be the Grim Weeper."

We looked at costumes the other day and Brock said, "Look, the Grim Sweeper," and Rachel said, "No, it's the Grim Weeper."

Joe says, "We weep what we sow."

I say: That's the grim truth.

Girls and Boys

Joe asked Rachel about her day. Rachel said she told a boy at school, "I have a crush on you."

Joe asked, "Why did you do that?"

Rachel replied: "Because he's sooooo handsome."

She and a friend chase him at school, but he doesn't like them to chase him. Why? Girls have cooties.

More of Manhattan

Wicked - Times Square

Joe took me to see Wicked on Broadway in New York! He surprised me for my birthday and also, he said, to celebrate our tenth anniversary. I know, I don’t deserve it, or Joe, but I love him, and I did love seeing Wicked – it’s, well, fabulous!

Some may describe New York as a melting pot; and, if that's the case, Joe says the melting pot of New York reaches its boiling point at Times Square. I read an estimated 1.7 million people pass through Times Square daily. Last weekend, we became part of that statistic.

First Day of School

Brock's New Look

Brock wears glasses now, even though he wishes he didn’t. Brock told Joe: “Jack Sparrow doesn’t wear glasses.” The kids told him he looks like Harry Potter. I think he almost likes Harry Potter again.

Joe and I took the kids for a vision check, a year ago, before school started. I thought Brock young at age 2 for a vision test, but the eye doctor said no, he’s not too young, and she tested him. It turns out Jared and Rachel got Joe’s excellent vision; Brock got mine, but worse. He’s farsighted (like me) with astigmatism (like me) and lazy eye (like me). And now, a year later, because his eyes didn’t improve enough on their own, Brock got a new look – wearing glasses. The eye doctor hopes if he wears his glasses and strengthens his eyes now, he won’t need to wear an eye patch later.

At first, Brock loved his new look. Then, after one hour, he wanted to give his glasses away. I put them back on every time he took them off, and forty tries later, he realized he couldn’t get rid of them that way, so he tried taking them off and throwing them across the room. Finally he resorted to hiding them: I found them, in the past couple weeks, under the couch cushion, under Rachel’s bed and in Jared’s closet. Today I had his scratched lenses replaced (after two weeks of abuse).

I’m glad Brock’s vision will improve, even if he has to wear glasses to do it. I just hope Brock doesn’t ever need to wear an eye patch, even if he does look more like a pirate, he’d probably tell me, “Harry Potter doesn’t wear an eye patch, he wears glasses.”

My First Birthday (29 years ago, today)

Kiki the Cat

I’m allergic to cats. Joe’s allergic to cats. Three neighbor girls brought a cute little orange and black-striped, not-quite-a-kitten-anymore, cat to my house to see if we wanted it. I took it, and we kept it, until we got rid of it when we found out Jared is also allergic to cats.

I knew, genetically speaking, that might happen. I thought a little sneezing, coughing, and runny eyes a small price to pay to create lots of good cat memories like mine – dressing my cat Tiger in doll clothes and pushing him in a stroller, cutting his whiskers off, watching my dad dropkick my cat Susannah out the back door and over the deck like a football (after she dug her claws into his flesh in three solid straight red lines from his wrist halfway to his elbow) – okay, maybe not memories exactly like mine, but still, memories.

Jared, however, went beyond the usual allergy and straight to the extreme – I can’t breath because my airways are closing off – allergy. We took Jared to the doctor for a breathing treatment (which helped) and experienced a rough night of Jared crying to us to please give Kiki the cat to a new home if it would help him breathe.

We tried to give the cat away the next day, unsuccessfully, but finally found a place for her a few days later. I admit it’s not quite the cat memory I hoped for, but at least it’s a memory I’m sure my kids won’t forget.

Happy 10th Anniversary!

Joe and I celebrated our tenth anniversary this year and Joe turned 34 on Monday. Happy Birthday! I put together a slide show highlighting some favorite memories to celebrate both occasions! (If you click on View All Images it will take you to a site where you can click on gallery view which makes the pictures bigger and the slideshow faster - at least it should.)

Saurey Family Reunion

We went up to Rexburg for the Saurey Family Reunion last weekend. We loved seeing our family and enjoyed canoeing down the Snake River; tummy-tickling, I’m-up-higher-than-it-looked-from-below bridge jumping (according to Joe’s mom, 50 years old is about the right age to stop jumping, so I’ve got 20 good years left to enjoy it); roasting hot dogs on a sand bar and torpedoing into the water (you’ll see what I mean in the video below); and all of this in just the first day.

We also got to have a big sleepover with almost the whole family at Arlene’s house (our family slept on the trampoline) before boating, tubing and water skiing at Gem Lake. And then, of course, we ate a lot of delicious food. I can’t describe a Saurey reunion without describing some of the food: Dutch oven chicken (lemon and teriyaki) and potatoes at Pat and Brent’s, a deluxe breakfast of pancakes, sausages and eggs at Arlene’s, and yummy hoagies from Joe’s mom and Holly. We had a great time eating, playing hard and seeing everyone!

Sandbar Torpedos

Canoeing down the Snake River

Jewkes Family Reunion

We enjoyed seeing our family at the Jewkes Family Reunion held at Heber Valley Camp: We climbed up, swung on, and went through ropes at a challenge course; paddled boats; watched the kid’s jump rope; celebrated two upcoming marriages with a girl’s night/surprise shower; listened to touching and funny family stories; and had a great FHE. We loved it!

For our first ropes challenge, Jared tree-climbed 30 feet

wrapped his arm around the tree trunk and hooked two carabiners to a wire (with one hand!)

wobbled 20 feet across a tight rope connected to another tree

He looks a little worried

and then rappelled down to solid ground

I went next. When I finished, Jared asked me if I got scared. I said, "Yes." “Me, too,” he replied. I’m proud of my brave boy.

Rachel's Conversation With Jake

The other day Rachel answered the phone for me so I could finish reading a story to Brock. I listened to her answer the phone and heard her squeal: “Jake,” as she ran up the steps to her bedroom. I couldn’t believe we got a call from Joe’s brother Jake in Iraq. I figured Rachel would soon bring the phone to me so I didn’t mind her taking a minute to talk to her Uncle and brag about how Brock had on his “Big Boy Underpants.” She soon brought the phone to me and I felt puzzled when she told me Jake would call Dad at work and that he’d hung up without saying hello to me.

Joe called me a few minutes later to tell me he just got an interesting phone call. Jake from Jake’s Automotive, the place we took our car to be checked out, had just called to let Joe know what work needed to be done on our car. Jake also mentioned that he called our house and spoke to our daughter before telling Joe, “You must know someone special named Jake. I think your daughter really loves him. Congratulations on those Big Boy Underpants.”

Jim and Liz come to Utah

Jim, Liz, Aidan and Lauren came from Michigan for a visit. We always try to fit as much fun as we can into their once (sometimes twice) a year visits. We rode the Ferris Wheel at the Strawberry Days carnival; watched my cousin B.K. chase after a cow in the cow milking event at the Rodeo (unfortunately the rope around his cow came untied at the beginning of the event and chasing after the cow is pretty much all we saw B.K. do –he did it well, though, he never gave up); helped evolution along by burying and flooding several plastic dinosaurs at the Dinosaur museum at Thanksgiving point; splashed around in the water pooling under Bridal Veil Falls; and, especially enjoyable for the children, started a swim-then-eat-a-popsicle tradition at Grandma’s house.

We love every chance we get to visit with Jim and Liz and watch their kids play: Aidan and all his energy, and who can resist Lauren’s smile? I can’t.

Goblin Valley

We traveled to Goblin Valley last weekend with our friends. I experienced three new things: playing night games, “Name that Show,” and seeing a scorpion.

For 2 ½ days we climbed up or slid down jutting goblin, dinosaur and ship-shaped sandstone, explored and made scary sounds in caves, and wove in and out of slot canyons at Wild Horse. On our third and final night, after celebrating our two friends’ birthdays by eating dutch oven cobblers, we watched the sunset fade and the north star appear and then headed to the valley of the goblins to play night games: kick the can (a new game for me) and sardines.

We set a lantern on the ground and the can a couple feet away and then one person tried to catch the other 17 people hiding in the shadows and sand before they ran out and kicked the can over. After hiking around in 90 degree weather during the day, the cool night air gave some relief to my strawberry and cream splotched skin (I need to learn to apply sunscreen more evenly, apparently). We played one short game of sardines before heading back to camp after midnight.

I don’t remember lines from movies very well, I discovered, as I tried to play, “Name that Show.” I eventually came up with a movie line: “Once there was a magical place where it never rained. The end.” Can you name that show?

I quote three more lines to test your movie prowess.

1. It’s not that bad. Well, I’m not saying I’d like to build a summer home here but the trees are quite lovely.

2. I hate to be rude, but we’re French!

3. Mrs. M, this corn is simply scrumptious. Is it hand-shucked?

On our last day, as Joe and I took the tent down, two lizards flew out from under the bottom of our tent and a half-dollar sized scorpion scuttled out too! I’m glad we found all these creatures under our tent instead of inside our tent. Our group gathered around to look at the scorpion and several of us, including me, screamed when it started moving towards us. One little boy backed up and tripped over our bagged tent and fell over. I didn’t know scorpions move fast like lizards!

We loved our trip: the games, spending time with our friends in such a beautiful, although hot, valley, and we even survived sharing space with lizards and scorpions!

Goblin Valley Pictures

Jared's Baptism

Jared turned 8 in February and on March 1st Joe baptized him. I can now repeat to Jared the refrain I heard from my mom in all my growing up years, and, I must admit, I still hear: “I’m too young to have a child your age.”

I remember my own baptism: who came, the heart locket my parents gave me, and missing part of the film on the Holy Ghost because I put my baptism outfit on wrong – which I realized as soon as I sat down on the bench in the chapel, or rather, tried to sit down – and had to go change it to the zipper going up the front instead of the back.

Jared’s 4 grandparents, 4 of his 6 great-grandparents, many aunts, uncles, cousins, and family friends attended his baptism. Ruth’s mother gave Jared a journal to celebrate his baptism. Jared wrote about his baptism (his first and only entry so far) by talking about how he recorded cartoons in the morning – so he could watch them after his baptism (he made a good choice by choosing to go to his baptism instead of staying and watching cartoons) – he also names all the people who came, and then he ends his entry by saying, “I am thankful to be baptized. I love it. But the water was cold.”

I love watching my children make good choices. “I have no greater joy than to hear that my children walk in truth.” I suppose I could say I’m glad I’m old enough to have a child Jared’s age.

We took this picture at our house after Jared's baptism

Jared stands with 8 of his 10 grandparents. Left to right: Great-Grandma and Grandpa Whitehead, Grandma and Grandpa Bryan, Grandma and Grandpa Whitehead, and Great-Grandma and Grandpa Ivie.

St. Anthony Sand Dunes

Fieldtrip to Schow Farm

Rachel, Brock and I visited the Schow family farm for Rachel’s Kindergarten fieldtrip a couple weeks ago. The Schow family opened up their farm to give tours to the Kindergarteners from two local schools. The kids petted pigs and sheep; they saw Clydesdale horses, turkeys, and kittens; they fed rainbow trout and chickens; and Rachel even got to feed Gatorade to a little lamb, an experience she relished.

I wanted to get a terrific picture of her feeding the lamb and I tried to get in a great spot outside the pen to take a picture, but it wasn’t the best location and I never did get the shot I wanted. I watched one woman ask if she could go into the pen with the kids and she knelt down on the ground close to the kids with her camera pointed up at them to take a picture, and I remember thinking, “She knows how to get a terrific picture of her son, I hope Rachel isn’t too much in the way.” I laughed to myself a few minutes later when she introduced herself to me as a photographer for the Daily Herald and asked me for Rachel’s name and age to publish with her picture the next day in the paper. I wondered if they would use her picture or not, so I didn’t mention the picture to Rachel or Joe; I got to surprise them the next day when the paper printed a 5x7 picture of Rachel feeding the lambs as well as a 3x5 picture of her petting them. I ended up with a terrific picture after all. I created a link to the website where Rachel's pictures were posted. Rachel's two pictures are thumbnails underneath the main picture.

Rachel learns more about sheep.

Rachel and Brock stand by a goat: we're told this goat's favorite food is potato chips.

Wintertime Fun

Joe made a sledding hill in our backyard earlier this year. The kids loved it. Brock shows off his sledding skills in this video. I know it's not winter anymore - I just need to catch my blog up on all our fun!

Leaving

Joe, the kids and I went to the MTC yesterday with Josh. I wondered how our kids would do saying goodbye to Josh. The kids all gave him a great big hug and Jared did well, until Josh left and we walked out the door and also said goodbye to Jon, Ruth and Jeffrey (they left right away to move to Texas). Jared started crying and Joe asked, “What’s wrong buddy?” Jared said how hard it was to say goodbye to Josh, and then Jon, Ruth and Jeffrey, and that he missed his Uncle Jake, too. Jared then said, "In the car, on the way home, and probably all afternoon at home, I think I’m just going to cry.” Jared also said how he wished he was born when Josh was so he could go to the West Indies with Josh. We'll miss living close to our family, but we know that we'll always be close.

Five of my favorite memories with my family:
1. Playing Rockband (thank you Josh)
2. Rummy -- I had to beat you last time just so you can look forward to winning the next time we play, maybe.
3. Playing in the snow: sledding, snowmobiling, and skiing
4. Waterskiing at Ririe Reservoir
5. Our trip to Disneyland

Our kids love Josh

Jon, Ruth and Jeffrey with our kids in the snow cave they built in February.

California Adventures: Disneyland