Habitat

Ivan has been working on a chameleon habitat for the last couple of days. He used karo syrup mixed with blue food coloring for the waterfall and river. And the chameleon he did using Aaron’s 3D printing pen. I think the whole thing turned out really nice. 

First Snow!

My kids were pretty pumped that it finally snowed. They’ve been wishing for it since August! Unfortunately, Ivan and Rue are currently taking a turn being sick, so they had to stay inside and watch Kipper instead. 

Ollie and Lincoln and Del thoroughly enjoyed it though. They jumped on the snowy trampoline for awhile, made a few snowmen, and threw snowballs at the fence. 

And everyone got hot chocolate after, even the sickies. 

 

Chatbooks...You're Welcome.

Off to Hooper: Thanksgiving 2016

Our Thanksgiving themed Poetry Tea-Time.

Stratton lovin on Baby Cal

My two favorite Tanners, Tanner Ross Lemmon and Cal Tanner Swan

Cal and Logan

Auntie Bri, Emree, Abi, Del, and Ollie playing with Snapchat filters

Lincoln's been really into photo-bombing lately. 

I tried to put Cal to sleep in the Moses basket, but he wanted none of that.

Adelia enjoying the feast.

Aaron making an impressive turkey with his 3D printing pen.

Lately I feel like I’ve been carrying the world on my back. Today I set the world down for a bit, packed up my kids and drove to Hooper for a much needed change of scenery and routine. Hello Thanksgiving break, not a moment too soon. 

I love Hooper. No matter how long I’ve been gone, it always feel like home. You can breath in Hooper. 

The kids and I headed out Wednesday afternoon for my mom’s house. Aaron had to work, so he caught the train and came later. Jackson and Stratton came over Wed. night and had pizza with us to celebrate Aaron’s birthday. 

All three of my brothers came over on Thanksgiving day, and I felt like we got to spend some quality time together while the kids played. I met Kyle’s new baby, Stewart Logan, for the first time. He smells like heaven and has a head full of delicious black hair that’s to die for. He and Cal got along well, haha. They’ll be bffs I’m sure. 

Aaron and the kids, cousins, and uncles played Aaron with the 3D printing pen he got for his birthday. He made a turkey for the occasion. :) 

Dinner was fantastic. My mom and Kerry never disappoint. They also fixed us “hot breakfast” (waffles, pancakes, etc) every morning we were there, which my kids happen to think is about the greatest thing ever. (I only ever make those kinds of things for dinner. I’m not much of a morning person and my cooking, or the lack thereof, reflects it.) 

On Friday we ventured out to do some Black Friday shopping at Smith and Edwards, one of my favorite one-of-kind army surplus stores. They have everything. But you have to be able to find it. It reminds me of a thrift store in that way. Haha! I like to get my Christmas candy there, because they have big bins of all sorts of cool kinds, and they sell them by the piece (i.e. 20 pieces for a dollar, etc.) So you don’t have to buy a huge bag of candy that’s all the same. You can get a wide variety without going bankrupt. 

Friday night my mom and Kerry introduced us to the BBC’s Sherlock series. Oh. My. Gosh. I’m a Sherlock Holmes fan girl anyway, so OF COURSE I’m now an addict to this series and need to see every single episode like now! Good news for me, VidAngel streams it! Yippee!! BTW, if you haven’t seen the commercial Lisa Valentine Clark did for Chatbooks, you need to watch it immediately. (That was a random change of direction mid-paragraph, but the people who produce commercials for VidAngel also produced the Chatbooks commercial, so it made sense in my mind, that abrupt switch from one to the other.) 

Unfortunately for me, it eventually got to be Saturday afternoon, and we had to drive home. The claustrophobia hit me like a brick wall as soon as we got back to our house. Ugh. What is it with me lately? I like my house. I have so many great plans for it. But for some reason being in it right now is stifling. 

Here’s your mountain back, Krystal; party’s over. 

Love you Hooper, we’ll come back soon. 

Aaron's 33rd

Tonight we celebrated Aaron (and Kelly), even though his birthday isn’t until Wednesday. 

Typically, Aaron’s mom throws one party that everyone on Aaron’s side comes to, then I throw a party with just our kids on Aaron’s actual birthday, and then another night we double date with Kelly and Esther instead of Aaron and Kelly swapping presents. 

It’s a lot of parties, (I won’t get in to how ridiculous I think it is that we have so many) and it causes a little bit of stress every year, but this year (with Thanksgiving the same week, and then Ruby’s Birthday, and Aaron’s two week work trip to Honduras looming in the distance) the stress was too much. Overwhelm set in and I couldn’t cope. To simplify, we gave Aaron his presents at his mom’s party, and that was it. I didn’t do a party with our kids, and we postponed our date with Kelly and Esther until after Aaron’s trip. I’m used to being able to shoulder a lot of stuff, but I’m no Atlas, and eventually even I crack. But I loath it when I do. 

Sorry for that mini venting session. I just feel like Aaron’s birthday was only sub-par this year, and that it was mostly my fault because I should have insisted that since we only had time for one party it should have been the party thrown by the kids and I on his actual birthday. That’s the most important party.  Not that the party his mom did was bad or anything. The food was good, everyone had fun. But I contributed zero, except for a very poorly made apple crisp. Whoopty-do. 

I’m starting to notice something about myself: I don’t take failure very graciously. And maybe Heavenly Father is telling me it’s something I need to work on, because I seem to be failing at an awful lot these days. 

I’m so tired. I know we’re in “a phase” and that we’ll get through it, just like we always have. My youngest 4 children will sleep through the night eventually, right?  But I feel like all my emotions have been used up and I’m just running on exhaustion and anger. I’m too tired to do anything and it makes me mad. And that’s all I have to work with. Exhaustion and anger, folks. 

My Letter

November 20, today, is/was my dad's birthday. He would have been 57.

I was looking through some old scrapbooks, looking for a picture of my Dad. Instead I found a gray 3 ring binder that I had put together when I was in high school, right after my dad died. Inside it, I had put all his church talks, which I'd found on our home computer and printed out. Some of the talks tell stories from his life, in others he bares testimony. Also in the binder I'd included my dad's obituary, and a letter he wrote to me shortly after he found out he had cancer. It's been years since I flipped through the binder, years since I've read his letter to me. When he wrote me the letter I was probably 14, or 15. He died when I was 16.

I wonder what he would say to me now, if he could write me a letter as an adult? I wonder what he thinks about how life is going for me these days. I wonder how he and Aaron would've gotten on together as in-laws. I wonder what he thinks about my kids. I like to imagine him up there picking out the best ones to send down to me. I'd like to think that he checks in on us from time to time.

Here's the letter:

Krystal,

I just wanted to take a minute to tell you what a good kid you are and how much I love you.

The Church used to have a Public Service video called "Julie Through the Glass", it was about a dad looking at his new-born daughter through the window in the hospital and then, reflected in the glass, he sees her growing up and all the significant events in their lives together until she's married and has her own daughter who he watches through the glass at the hospital...That video came out right after you were born. It made me cry when I watched it, heck, I'm crying right now thinking about it. Krystal, I am so proud of you. I love you more than I know how to express. I keep thinking I should give you all this advice about life and stuff to try to help you deal with the tough times in your life, but you know honey, it occurs to me that you already have the tools to deal with anything that comes along. You're so far ahead of where I was at your age. If things work out, I look forward to watching your wonderful life unfold. I can't wait to see your kids. How lucky they'll be to have you for a mom. it's funny. At times like these I realize that you and your brothers, and mom, of course, are so much more important than business or church or anything. I cherish the memories of the times we've spent together, reading or shopping, or discussing current events. I love every second I've spent at softball games, recitals, programs, luncheons, etc. I love you Krystal. Thank you for being the great blessing in my life that you are.

Sorry, I can't help myself, what would a letter from Dad be without advice in it? Here goes:

Krystal, pursue your dreams. You have it in you to make of this life whatever you want. Don't let the world try to convince you otherwise. Be firm in the knowledge that you can accomplish anything you set your mind to. Know whatever happens I'll be watching. My love for you and your brothers knows no bounds.

Love always,

Dad

All Done!

Minus one safety rail, the bunk beds are finished!! I’m so thrilled to have it done and the crib set up. Cal’s still sleeping in cradle in our room for now, but it’s nice to know his room is ready for him when he’s ready for it. Ollie loves sleeping “way up high like Ivan”.  (Ivan has the top bunk in the big boys’ room.) There are still a few things I want to do in this room (like rebuild the closet, and put up trim) before it’s totally, totally done. But having the beds done is a HUGE step in the right direction.

The who-does-Baby-Cal-look-like mystery has finally been solved, thanks to a little help from my TOFW friends! This past weekend I went to Time Out For Women in Salt Lake with my mom and some of our mutual Hooper friends, who are women I’ve known practically since birth. I had to bring Cal this year because , and as soon they saw him they all insisted that he looked exactly like me little brother Tanner. I wasn’t sure I agreed, so I looked up some old pictures when I got home, and sure enough. In the above picture, Tanner is on the left and Cal on the right. I always knew Cal was Lemmony. :) 

Cal was literally the perfect baby all weekend. The only time he even made a peep was one drive in the car when he was too hot, but once I took his blanket off he was all smiles and slobbery coos. 

And what’s this, you ask, well it’s dyed pasta of course, counters full of it. You know, for making beaded necklaces. Ivan’s class is celebrating Native Americans and Pilgrims for Thanksgiving, and I volunteered to provide colored pasta. Go big or go home, I guess. 

Ollie is taking after his older siblings and loves, loves, loves to play games. Usually when we play games he gets assigned to be on someone’s team. But today we found a game he can play without help. Old Maid. And he smoked me. 

Bucket List

-Be able to say I've read all the books that I own. 

-Milk a cow

-Make a pumpkin pie from scratch with a pumpkin I've grown myself. 

-Travel with Aaron to revisit his mission (Maryland, Baltimore) during cherry blossom season. 

-make and bottle old fashioned root beer. Not the dry ice and extract kind, but I actually want to grind up the roots and let them sit to carbonate by themselves, like the pioneers used to. 

-Read Gone With the Wind and Uncle Tom's Cabin back to back and then write an essay comparing and contrasting the two, just for fun. 

-Try real sushi

-Develop a greater knowledge of power tools and how to use them. 

-serve a mission at the Polynesian Cultural Center

-learn how to play the drums. 

Book Review: The Light Between Oceans

by M.L. Stedman

2.5 stars. I didn't dislike it, buuuut....meh. It's a page turner, so there's that.

I felt like this book tried really hard, but didn't quite get there. I wanted to like the characters, but never quite connected. I think they all started out as very interesting, imperfect people, but they didn't really develop. I mean yes, Isabella has to make a choice in the end, and she makes the right one; but as the reader it was never ever very clear WHY she made that choice. She never convinced me that she understood that she'd done anything wrong. She never convinced me that she forgave Tom. And the end of the book made me feel like they spent their last 30 years together wallowing in emptiness and sorrow.

The whole story is really sad. I like my fair share of sad books, so that's not a strike against it. But it was sad without offering hope or peace. Even though a big theme running through it is about hope, this is where I feel like the books tries and fails because it doesn't provide the feeling of any hope to be had. Instead there's just the sense that everybody loses.

And the writing is sub-par, which made the moral dilemma much less interesting to read about. So the only thing this book really has going for it is an interesting story-line (which falls flat) and a lot of suspense.

Book Review: A Man Called Ove

by Fredrik Backman
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I highly recommend this book. Do you need a vacation read? A feel-good story? This is the book for you. It's sentimental, has a happy ending, fun characters, a cute love story, and best of all it ISN'T fluffy. And it's hilarious. And it made me tear up in parts. What more could you ask for? Go read this!

Note: Lots of mild language and one f-bomb.

Book Review: Me Before You, and After You

by Jojo Moyes

Three and a half, maybe four stars for me. I guess this is a classic example of "don't judge a book by it's cover". I debated for a long time whether or not I wanted to read this, because the cover and the synopsis on the inside flap make it out to be a fluffy romance, which is not my cup of tea.

I caved and watched the movie first (which I almost never do), and was pleasantly surprised to find that it was controversial and thought provoking, with lovable, well-developed characters. What a great surprise!

So I read the book, and enjoyed it as well. Though I probably would have liked it more if I hadn't seen the movie first and known what was coming. But since I had seen the movie I was able to "hear" all the cool accents as I was reading, so there is that. :)

I did not read the book as a romance. And if you try to lump it into that category you'll probably be really disappointed.

I saw it more as a commentary on how life's choices are as complicated as the people who make them. About how life is never as cut and dry as we imagine. And it asks the question: What do you do when someone close to you makes a choice you consider morally wrong?

It would make a fabulous book to discuss at book club. (Too bad I missed the month mine read it.)

Things to note: Strong language (American and British), and sexual references.

I decided to read the sequel, here's my review of it:

After You by Jojo Moyes
My rating: 1 of 5 stars

This was the worst sequel I've read in awhile. This book is not about the adventures of Louisa Clark finding herself after Will. This is a book about Louisa's grief.

In and of itself a book about grief isn't necessarily a bad thing. But this isn't written well AND it goes on and on and on and on. The characters are flat, even Louisa's; and most of the new ones are either really annoying or uninteresting. The plot was all over the place, except it never went anywhere. Mostly I just wanted to ring Louisa's neck the whole time. I feel like she squandered everything she gained in the first book.

I wish I hadn't read this book, that I'd just stopped after book one and been totally satisfied.

I Don't Know Why, But...

Cal's Blessing Whirlwind Weekend

We blessed Cal this weekend and it was quite the family affair.  I’m grateful for our wonderful families who came to celebrate with Cal on his special day. 

Aaron blessed him. And although I didn’t get to hear most of what was said (I had a squirmy Ruby on my lap), there was a tangible sense of peace surrounding my quiet, happy baby. When I asked Aaron about the blessing later, he said that predominantly what stuck out to him was that Cal was going to be positively influenced by the examples of his older siblings, that he would have a strong testimony,  choose the right, and be a powerful missionary. A mama can’t ask for much more than that.  I love my little Cal buddy, and welcome his soft sweetness with open arms, we need some more go-with-the-flow in our family. 

Since we waited two months to bless him, he was too big for the blessing romper that Lincoln and Ivan both wore that was knitted by my great grandma Roberts. Instead Cal got to wear this darling sweater that my friend Suzy knitted and gave to Lincoln when he was a baby. Only none of my boys have ever been the right size to wear it in season until now. So Cal is the first to wear it and therefore it’s his, and I will pass it down him to use for his kids. :) 

Since we have 1 o’clock church, we did a brunch before, instead of a dinner after church because a lot of family were driving long ways to get home and wanted an earlier start. 

Ryan and Melissa took pictures of the group, and I really appreciated it. We don’t get everyone all together very often, and it’s nice to have high quality pictures to document the event. 

Back: Kerry, Aaron, Jackson
Middle: Tami, Ruby, Krystal, Stratton, Sabrina, Abi, Kyle, Kelsey, Tanner
Front: Lincoln, Ivan, Cal, Ollie

Krystal, Jackson, Kyle, Tanner

I’m so proud to call these three fine looking fellas my baby brothers. I love them and think they are wonderful. If you can believe it, there are 9.95 kids between the four of us (Kyle and Kels are having a baby this Saturday), holy smokes! It’ll be great to see these boys all again over Thanksgiving break. 

Aaron, Kelly, Ryan, Debbie, Chuck, Lisa, Stacey, Sydni

Aaron’s dad retired at the end of September and had a birthday at the beginning of November, so all of Aaron’s siblings came into town to celebrate Chuck’s retirement and birthday. We've had many a family dinner, trips to the park and store, games, desserts, presents. My kids were thrilled to get so much cousin time. And we finally got to meet baby Silas. He is just six days older than Cal.

Cal and Silas

Krystal and Cal, Sydni and Silas

Adelia and Eliza

My favorite cousin Whitney was also in town visiting her mom, so Whitney and Sydni and I got to have a fun girls night. (Whitney is Aaron’s cousin, she and I were friends freshman year at BYU, and she introduced Aaron and I.) 

Silas, Sydni, Whitney, Krystal, Cal

Debbie, Lisa, Sydni and I made a trip to the brand new Springville DI and I hit the JACKPOT in the book department. I have read The Virginian, Crossing to Safety, and My Antonia, and loved them but didn’t previously own them.  Now I do. And the others have either been on my to-read list for awhile, or came highly recommended by Lisa. I can’t wait to start reading them. But I just had two books come in on hold at the library (The Light Between Oceans, and Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children), and another book that I need to read for book Club come in the mail (Funny in Farsi), so it’ll be a minute before I get to these. But just knowing the good stuff is there on my shelf waiting for me is thrilling. I need more Wallace Stegner, John Steinbeck, and Willa Cather in my life. I’m such a nerd. 

So it’s been quite the eventful week at our house. I’m grateful that the weather has been gorgeous and that we’ve been able to see so much family. I’m grateful for my baby Cal. And for Aaron and the priesthood that he uses to bless our children and our family.