Goofy Elsie

It takes one a while to figure out what's going on in this picture.  Elsie's got some crazy ideas!

Yellowstone!

 Our family made a second trip to Yellowstone a couple weeks ago.  This time, instead of three kids, we had five in tow.  We went in the spring with the hopes of seeing some wildlife, and we had some great success!  We have some dear friends who reserved us a campsite at Mammoth campgrounds and helped us capture some great finds in the animal department.  One of which was a nest of baby great-horned owls near our campsite.  Our friends had a nice camera, with a large lens, so he took some pictures and sent them to us.  He captured the picture of this baby owl, which is about 3 months old.  There were two babies in a very large nest.  It was fun to see them.  This was the on the top of my bucket list of things to see while at Yellowstone.  Peter also loves owls, so it was fun for the two of us.

 

Come to find out, Mammoth is also the Elk Maternity Ward for Yellowstone.  There were at least a dozen elk lounging around Mammoth, waiting for their babies to come.  while we were there, a couple baby elk were born, but we missed seeing them.  Apparently, one of the baby elk got eaten by a grizzly bear right near our camp site.  We were eating pancakes at the time, so we missed that too.  I'm not sure if I'm sad or happy about missing that one though.  At the end of our stay, there were a couple elk that meandered right through our camp ground, and we got some great pictures of them next to our trailer.  We saw bison and baby bison, several pronghorn, we had a close encounter with a deer on a hike, and another close look at a mama black bear with her three little cubs right off the road!  It was very thrilling and memorable.  The kids learned a lot just by watching.  Just as we were leaving, Elsie got really close to a Golden Mantel Squirrel and took a picture.  She was soooo excited about her "good find", and her ability to sneak up and take a good shot with her camera.  Definitely, the animals were the most memorable on this trip.  

Of course we also made sure we showed the kids Old Faithful and we saw some hot pots and such.  That was fun as well, but it rained the majority of the time we were there.          

Another fun thing we did while we were camping was go hiking.  We had fun on the suspension bridge on Hellroaring hike.  On our various hikes, we saw lots of flowers, wild strawberries, birds, a waterfall, and Peter even found a piece of petrified wood. 

 

Another memorable experience Mike and I had was meeting all sorts of people who thought we were such oddities because of our large family.  The first day our camp host said there was a guy from National Geographic taking pictures of people from various cultures touring Yellowstone.  Our host said he was going to recommend our family.  We never met the photographer, but I was surprised our number of children outweighed our very Caucasian backgrounds.  We got lots of looks, comments, and waves from lots of people.  I felt like I was one of the animals at times.  At one point, Mike had Anna on his back, Adam on the front, and was hiking with the two older ones while I carried Kimball a few feet behind.  A lady saw Mike and asked if he wouldn't mind turning to the side so she could take a picture of him!  As I watched the humerous event a few feet away, I was laughing and feeling appalled all at once.  Mike tells me he's famous now.  We also drove into Gardner one evening and treated ourselves to Pizza.  We made such a spectacle of ourselves!  Adam was knocking down everyone's waters, and we kept cleaning up spill after spill.  We were scrunched into this tiny booth (because that's all there was) with kids climbing on boosters and high chairs.  There was no room to set pizzas, so we just emptied the pizzas from the trays as they brought them.  While we were about 3/4 of the way through our meal, Mike told me to look around the room and see if I noticed anything.  I realized our rambunctious family was on one side of the restaurant, and everyone else had been seated on the other side of the restaurant.  I was pretty embarrassed and realized we needed to hurry up and eat so the poor restaurant could have their half of the building back!  It was a lot of work with young kids, and we made quite a spectacle of ourselves, but it was well worth the experiences and memories we made.  

We owe a big thank you to our friends who gave us their old family trailer.  We know when it was given, it was full of their own family memories, and it was more than just a trailer to them.  We are adding our own memories with it, and we are very grateful!

January Tea Time

For Elsie's birthday this year she wanted to celebrate it with cousins.  I asked my mom a month or so in advance if she wouldn't mind holding a little tea party for Elsie and her cousins for her birthday.  My mom, ever so nonchalantly, agreed.  As the day grew closer for the tea party, my mom kept mentioning little things over the phone like, "Oh hey, I just found these frozen macrons and picked them up," and "I ordered some cute hats for the party," as well as, "I just put a little cake in the freezer for the big day."  I slowly gathered this wasn't going to be a little tea party.  I told my mom I'd bring a bouquet of "garden" flowers down.  Elsie has a cousin whose birthday is about 10 days before her own, so we decided to make it a party for two.
I had stayed up way too late a couple nights sewing some aprons for Elsie and her cousin, Eden.  I'm not much of a seamstress, so it took longer than it should have, but they turned out really cute.  I had let Elsie pick out the material for her apron, and being the animal lover she is, she found one with deer on it.  It was nothing close to what I would have picked out for her, but it ended up turning out and really reflected her personality.
The tea party was drawing nearer, and Mike and I and the family drove down the night before and stayed at his brother's home.  From there we picked up another of Elsie's cousins and headed down to Nonny and Poppy's.  While we were headed down, we found out Eden had just come down with strep throat.  It was a devastating blow.  She took the party favors from Nonny's house and headed home, missing her own birthday party.  I think that is about the saddest thing for a little girl.
When we arrived, the spread was beautiful!  We all ate on beautiful china tea cups and enjoyed our choice of teas and hot chocolate, crustless sandwiches, pudding, cake, cookies, and mints (all of which were miniature bite-sized).  The girl's all donned on their cute hats from Nonny (complete with flowers and ribbons), and set their dolls they had brought in a miniature seat next to them.  We sat around the table and talked about general points of interest and said things like, "Thank you, but I shall have no tea," when we were full.  It was so fun, and Elsie was so impressed.  Afterwards she confided in me with a big smile, that she had no idea Nonny would give her such a fancy tea party. 
Elsie got some really thoughful presents also.  She is really into American Girl books and the mini-dolls.  My mom gave her a new mini-doll and Eden had given her a mini-doll as well that had been given to her.  I was so impressed by my sweet niece's dear heart.  Elsie loved them both.  Aunt Michelle gave her a miniature tea set that came with a set of paints (which we had so much fun with!), and I gave the aprons.  It was such a hit.
 Later, for our family birthday, Mike and I made a couch and two beds for her doll house and American Girl dolls, and her other grandma took her shopping and bought her a kitchen set for her doll house as well.  Elsie was really spoiled by both of her grandmas.  Each of them really went out of their way to make her feel grown-up and special.  Thanks again Nonny!
I can't find any pictures, so sorry!

The Living Christ

Several months before Christmas I was inspired by this talk given in a woman's conference.  During the talk, Sister Marriott expressed her desire to memorize The Living Christ by Christmas.  I have had a 12 week program to memorize The Living Christ on my computer desktop for several years, waiting for the right time to try to memorize it with my children.  It's always seemed like such an insurmountable goal to do with my children.  However, this time, this year, the timing was right, and I took a leap of faith as I started with Day 1, "As we commemorate the birth of Jesus Christ....".  Day 1 lead to Day 2 and so forth, until after many days and lots of prayers, my two oldest and I memorized the document.  Through the process, all of our testimonies were strengthened as we  reflected on Jesus Christ, "the firstborn of the Father, the Only Begotten son in the flesh, the Redeemer of the world."  This was our gift to our Savior this Christmas, because ultimately, He is The Gift.

History Fair

About a month ago Peter and Elsie participated in a history fair.  Elsie is currently in an American Girls club and they were just finishing up Kaya, a Nez Perce Indian in the 1760s.  I was amazed at how much Elsie learned about the Nez Perce.  Since I read the books out-loud, my other children learned lots as well.  In the club, she made a parflech, an abalone necklace, corn-husk dolls, an herbal medicinal spray. and a weaving project. 
I mentioned to the kids I thought it would be fun to create dioramas of something they were learning about.  Elsie immediately thought of the Nez Perce Indians.  She built a teepee, a horse out of clay along with a travois, a fire, salmon, baskets, and every detail she could think of.  She even had me hard-at-work making these little toothpick worry dolls I remembered making when I was a young girl.  It's a group effort keeping-up with this girl sometimes!

 Peter did his history project on Hideyoshi, the Japanese leader previous to all the shew-guns.  He was really intrigued by the ships the Japanese had and the ships the Koreans had when Japan attacked Korea.  He built models of those.  Originally, he had big plans to build little stick people hanging out of the boats and drowning in the water, but the logistics were much easier said than done, and he simplified his design.  He learned a lot not only about Japan's history, but also about good engineering.

 This was everyone's first history fair.  I think we all learned a lot.  I have a better idea of what a presentation could look like, and know better how to help my children as well.  The kids learned about planning, presenting, researching, and creating.

Kimball's Birthday

Kimball turned 5 at the end of October.  I thought I would include some photos here and write a little update on the new five-year-old in the house.  Kimball wanted a Lego Birthday Party this year.  He was ready to say "good-bye" to his once precious Duplos and be on even ground with his older siblings with Legos:  building, creating, trading, and playing.  He invited a few friends over and they were master builders as they hammered away on old crayons to make their own Lego crayons.  They played some Lego games, including "pin-the-head on the Lego guy", and ate cake and ice cream.  I just love all the grins in the picture below.

 Kimball's smile melts my heart - his whole face lights up.  I love this picture because his eyes tell you how big his smile is without even seeing his lips. 

 The picture below is a finished product from a combined group effort.

I have a funny story about Kimball's birthday.  I always forget to order things early when I shop online.  Hence, Kimball's presents were days late in coming.  We had one present for him (which his dad bought) to open on his birthday, and Grandma and Grandpa came through (Thank you!!) and brought over a present on his birthday as well.  He was very happy and excited about his presents.  The next day was his party, but the packages still hadn't arrived at the post office.  They also included all the birthday party favors and such.  I had no plan B.  Lucky for me, but very unlucky for Kimball, he was throwing up the day of his party.  I called all the moms and rescheduled the party for several days later.  It turned out to be perfect.  Everyone was happy and healthy and everyone (including mom and dad) was able to give him a present at his party. 
I thought I would make a list of some of my favorite things I love about Kimball:
~ His smile
~ His hugs
~ His laugh
~ The love he has for his siblings
~ His energy (when it's not overwhelming me. :))
~ He is quick to forgive
~ He can find happiness in less than ideal circumstances
I am so lucky to be a mom to this spirited boy.  He has taught me and continues to teach me so much.  Here is to a great year Kimball!

Giving Thanks

Wow, the holiday seasons are here, and life definitely does pick-up, as if things weren't fast-paced enough already.  However, I've been pondering the value of gratitude this month, and I wanted to share some of my thoughts. 
It all began when I listened to President Uchtdorf's talk about gratitude, which you can find here.  He talks about being grateful regardless of the quantity of our blessings, but rather, to find gratitude in our circumstances.  He declared, "Gratitude is a catalyst to all Christlike attributes! A thankful heart is the parent of all virtues."  Ahhh.  My heart needs to grow in gratitude as I ponder the beautiful plan of salvation Christ has made available to all.  That alone should be enough to fill my heart with deep gratitude.  Christ has broken the bonds of death and I can choose to return to live with him some day.  What a gift He has given me, and each of His children.  
I was also talking to a friend about Job.  She pointed out that after he had suffered so much, he knelt down and praised the Lord, and then said, “Naked came I out of my mother’s womb, and naked shall I return … : the Lord gave, and the Lord hath taken away; blessed be the name of the Lord.^"
This tied right into President Uchtdorf's talk, about finding gratitude in every circumstance we find ourselves.  I thought of the need to strip myself of any sense of entitlement, and praise God throughout any trial.  Thank goodness for Job, because no matter how hard that seems, I know it can be done.
I have also been learning more about the pilgrims with my kids.  Up until this year,  I've heard the story of the pilgrims and it's sounded so trite and cliche to me.  This year, however, I've internalized their bravery and courage so they could teach their children in their religious and cultural preferance.  This was more important than any indulgence and even more important than their lives.  Many of this brave group of 50 did end up giving their lives to this cause, but they also made American history - laying the foundation for what this great nation would be built upon.  I am grateful for them, and I am grateful for the sacrifices of so many others who have given me freedoms and instilled in me character and virtue.  Most of all, I am thankful for my Savior who made it possible for me to repent and return to live again with him some day. 
Indeed, I am grateful in my circumstance, and working on being even more so.  I have been so abundantly blessed that I know it is easier for me to be grateful than others.  I also know there will be days when it will be harder for me to be grateful than it is right now, because that is life.  I hope I always remember the words of President Uchtdorf, of the example of Job, and other brave heroes who have proved to be grateful in their circumstances.