Ivan's Art

The Hopeless Elephant, oil on canvas

Knight, inktense and watercolor 

Ivan has completed a couple of really cool art projects this semester. He's taking art at a new studio this year called All Things Art, his teacher is Mary Reeder. The studio is in Springville, and Mary is a very well know professional local artist, whose son is also a well-know professional artist in California. Anyways, the studio is AMAZING, just walking inside is enough to get your creative juices flowing. There is artwork everywhere, of all kinds. Mary encourages the kids to be self led, to try lots of different styles and techniques, whatever they are interested in, and then she gives tips and feedback but she never touches the students' papers. So their artwork is 100% there own. Ivan gets to go and spend 2 hours a week on Mondays at the studio, and I would best it's his very favorite two hours of the week. I love to hear about what he's been working on. And I love to see the pieces he brings home. I want him to find a happy place in his art. Somewhere he can go to express his emotion and complex thoughts, something to do with his hands that makes his soul sing and come alive. Everyone needs something like that.

UVYSO Fall Concert

In the fall, Lincoln tried out for and made the Utah Valley Youth Symphony Orchestra. I'm pretty excited about it because it gives him the opportunity to play with a group, something that a homeschooled student only taking private lessons doesn't come by naturally. A friend of mine recommended UVYSO, she and her kids had played with them previously. I contacted the person in charge of tryouts, and he never got back to me. Then I had Oslo and things sort of got crazy, the try outs were that week and he hadn't prepared anything. Also it was $400 to play with the symphony and money is always tight. And Aaron had just made it very clear to me that he wanted to keep Saturdays open, he was tired of being busy. So I figured maybe we'd just have to figure things out next year. But I kept feeling like it would be such a good opportunity for Lincoln. And I kept thinking that the point of playing an instrument like the trombone was not to be a soloist. So I prayed about it. I told Heavenly Father how things had gotten crazy trying to juggle everything and a new baby, I told him how we'd been trying to simplify and save money, and I also told him my concerns that if Linc didn't get to play with a group he might not be able to get all the benefits out of playing the trombone and that it would be time and talent and money wasted. And I asked Him to make it really obvious if having Lincoln try out was the right thing to do, if it was important for Lincoln. Over the course of the next few days, UVYSO was everywhere. Suddenly the director was texting me and emailing me to remind me of tryouts. It would pop up on my facebook feed. I kept seeing how the tryout days stood out empty on our calendar, and knowing that nothing was coming up to stand in the way of trying out. So I finally sat down and talked to Aaron about it. I told him about my prayer. And I asked what he thought we should do. Aaron agreed to let him try out. He said we could probably come up with the money if we ended up needing to, and that he wouldn't complain about rehearsals on Saturdays. So Lincoln tried out, and he made it! I was so proud of him. And it's been such a great experience for him every since. He's made some good friends. He's grown a lot as a musician. The orchestra has gone on retreats, and they have service projects and fund raisers planned for the future. Tonight was their first concert of the season. Linc had to wear a bowtie and a cummerbund. He looked so handsome and grown up. They played at the Covey Center for the Arts in Provo and charged $11 a ticket. I hope he's making memories that will be positive for him for the rest of his life. I hope he plays in many many more concerts, and I hope I get to be there to see every one of them. I think being a part of something bigger than yourself is such an important experience for kids to have.

36

Runny noses are red,
And baby poop is yellow
I can't imagine parenting
With a more handsome fellow.

His 36th year will be one for the books.
Between our family and work, there won't be much rest.
But we can slow down for a minute today
To celebrate Aaron because he's the best!

Bday plans include: fixing his truck
Grilling up burger, and with any luck
A fresh apple crisp is what he would like,
Then to ride a few miles on his new exercise bike.

So we'll sing and we'll eat
And it will be rad
To blow out the candles
For our most favorite dad! <3 p="">

Aaron building a dog house for Nike.

Aaron in his handsome new suit.

Aaron winning a contract for his company while at an army base in Ohio.

Things have been whirlwind crazy around here. I've been sick. Kids have been sick. Ozzy still gets up multiple times at night wanting to eat. We are scraping the bottom of the tank of survival mode around here for sure. Trying to gear up for Thanksgiving, trying to gear up for the holidays and all the hustle and bustle that comes with them. Trying to get our house organized, trying to make sure all the kids have sufficient winter clothing. Etc, etc, etc. Aaron was in Ohio for a few days last week on a business trip. I was out of town with my mom the weekend before that. Time is zipping past us as smacking us int he face as it goes. And it feels like we can't catch our breath. I forget how hard the first year is after having a baby. How it really does take an ENTIRE year to regroup.

BUT

Today is Aaron's birthday. And we had to fit it in, because Aaron is the tracks to our crazy train. He's keeping this whole thing from derailing. He is steady, and constant, and even. And if it weren't for him, this circus would have fallen apart a long time ago. So celebrate we did. Sort of.

All Aaron wanted for his birthday was to go to his dad's house and work on getting the 4-wheel drive shaft fixed in his truck. So he was gone for probably 2/3rds of the day. The rest of us cleaned the house to surprise him when he got home. We didn't have any other presents for him because we had already given him the exercise bike he wanted off of KSL. We found it last week, and it was too heavy for me to pick up without him and his truck, so I stayed with the kids and Aaron and Kelly went to get it instead. I didn't wrap it either, probably should have.

Anyways, Aaron wanted hamburgers for dinner and apple crisp for dessert. We got a pretty late start on both, and dessert almost ended up not happening, because it was late, everyone was tired, and I kept being interrupted in preparations because Ozzy wanted to eat. But we did it. I hope Aaron knows how much we love him. And how much we appreciate him.

HAPPY BIRTHDAY AARON!!!!

Halloween 2019

It snowed in Elk Ridge the week of Halloween. And it was COLD. Not too bad in the valley though. So on Halloween day I took all the kids but Lincoln (he was at ASA) to the Springville trick-or-treat on Main Street. It was a decent temperature with the sun still up, and I think everyone had fun. Then we had to run and grab Lincoln from ASA, and hurry home to have dinner. Then we bundled everyone up in their snow suits, because it Elk Ridge there were several inches of snow on the ground still. Lincoln, being 12 and too old to trick or treat now, stayed home. Aaron and Oslo stayed with him. And I took everyone else out in the snow and cold. Ivan and Ollie went as snowboarders, Adelia went as Princess Elana, Ruby was an arctic mermaid, and Cal was a baby shark (so was Oslo). Lincoln dressed up as pre-Hogwarts Letter Harry Potter for his classes at ASA today. Elk Ridge doesn't get many trick or treaters because it's all up hill and the houses are kind of far apart. BUT the people who live there make it worth your while. Lots of them give out full size candy bars, homemade doughnuts, hot apple cider or hot chocolate. My kids were in heaven, and agreed to share with Lincoln when they got home. After trick or treating we watched ET and had wassil. It was a good Halloween. 

Oslo's first Halloween as Baby Shark

normal mermaid

arctic mermaid

Pre-Hogwarts Letter Harry Potter.

Our pumpkins

"Into the woods I go, to lose my mind and find my soul." -John Muir

In fall I feel the pull of the wide open spaces. Especially after a long pregnancy and a summer trapped inside with a newborn. Get. Me. Out. Aaron doesn't like me to take the kids hiking by myself, because he worries that if something happened to me, or one of the kids, I wouldn't be able to get us all down the mountain. I guess his point is valid. But it rubs the wrong way, especially when he is too tired or busy to want to hit the trails when he's home on the weekends. BUT, there is this little trail up Payson Canyon called The Grotto, and it is short and close to the road, and not difficult at all. And I feel confident hiking that one alone with 7 kids. (That's a funny statement isn't it? Alone WITH seven kids. Ha! Welcome to the paradox that is my life.)

And today I needed nature. For my sanity. The Grotto burned in the fire last year. And the trail has been closed all summer. But it recently opened. And you can see the burn scars, but it wasn't as ruined as I'd imagined. In fact, we must have hit it at precisely the perfect time, because it was gorgeous. The landscape was stunning, actually. And we almost had the trail entirely to ourselves (something that never happens here, there are always a million and one people). I guess I'm a bit of a Charlotte Mason-ist, but I feel like we were all happier out in the wild. I feel like the kids needed the great outdoors as much as I did. The get along better when we're on a trail. And then get along better when we get home from the trail. The exercise and fresh air is a cure for all of us.

Cal's Birthday

This adorable birthday monster is 3 today! He asked for pasta and mint chocolate chip ice cream. I threw in the traditional peach cake to commemorate the occasion of going into labor with him after spending the day canning peaches.

Cal is the comic relief in our family. He's happy, and silly, and friendly, and constantly go-go-going. He lights up the world with his cheesy grin, social laugh, and fluffy white hairs. Everybody loves Cal, and Cal loves everyone.

Happy Birthday Pal, love you to the moon.......and back!

Salt Creek Canyon Falls

Today was the most perfect Labor Day. We hiked to Salt Creek Canyon Falls, one of our favorite trails on Nebo Loop. It's a super easy and family friendly hike, with a great waterfall at the end. Last time we hiked it in spring, so it was too cold to get in the water, but today it was hot and so were we. We spent literally hours playing in the water, and it was so fun. Adelia randomly brought a hammock? So we set it up, and I was able to sit in it to feed Oslo. There were also some big logs to sit on and I did, but the kids mostly played in the pool beneath the falls. They splashed, and built rock dams, and it was so much fun. Other groups of people came and went, but none stayed long, so we pretty much had the place to ourselves. We took turns daring each other to go stand underneath the waterfall. Even I got in on that action. And we took a family selfie, and succeeded in getting all nine of us, plus the waterfall in the picture. Awesome! Here's a few (million) pictures. Enjoy!

Oslo's first hike!

Oslo's Blessing Day

We blessed Oslo today. He was an angel. Our extended family are roskstars because they made it all the way out to Elk Ridge and 8:30am church to celebrate the occasion with us.

After church we came back to the house for brunch. Really the only thing brunchy about it was that it was 10:30 in the morning. We totally had sandwiches, salads, and soda. Oh well.

And since Cal's birthday is in three days, and we didn't think everyone would drive down a second time, we celebrated his 3rd birthday with the extended family. The only dessert we were having was ice cream cones, so we put his candle in that. He wasn't too sure about it, haha! But as you can see, he was thrilled with his new Tball set from Gramma Tam and Papa Kerry.