Laurie and Tara

Laurie, me, Tara

While in Utah, I had the opportunity to reconnect with two AWESOME sisters that I count as some of the best friends I've ever made. We don't keep in touch well, so I guess I don't mean they are my best friends in the call-every-day-and-email-constantly-and-Facebook-inside-jokes sense (though, let me be clear, I wouldn't mind that). I mean they are some of the best friends I've ever made in the sense that they are some of the best friends ANYONE could ever make. They are good, good, good people that are such good examples of Christ-like love and devotion. I want to be like them when I grow up.

I met Tara and Laurie when my dad was called as a mission president for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints and we moved our family down to Santiago, Chile, just shy of my 16th birthday. He was to be in charge of the welfare and "doings" of some 200+ missionaries for the Church. Tara and Laurie's dad was in charge of financial matters for the Church in South America (I think). We went to school together at the International School Nido de Aguilas - Tara was in my same grade, Laurie a year older. I have such fond memories of them. They made the big move bearable for a 16-year-old who was angry at having been uprooted just before all the most important milestones in teenage life: driving, dating, upper classman privileges, etc.

These gals are cream.

Cute Miss Tara, who just happens to be over five months pregnant with #5.  I know, right?!  Lucky, beautiful tall people.  :D

South Fork Park

It's quiet here right now.
I'm at my parents' house in Utah and after a long, busy day of play, the boys are all fast asleep.

I've decided that heaven is ... watching eight little boys completely in their element.

We took Caleb, Soren, Anders, Karsten, Oskar, Ari, Jude, and Gideon up to South Fork park in Provo Canyon.  They had everything little boys could possibly want in life right at their finger tips: fresh air, dirt, mud, rocks, sticks, bugs, water, space, imagination, and limited restrictions. Trees to climb, rivers to ford, rafts to build, mud bogs to jump in, snacks to eat, games to play, buddies to pal around with, leaves to shuffle, and Granny and Grandpa to play with.

I say I was in heaven, but really they were in heaven.

Completely and totally immersed in a heavenly communion with nature.

It was an awesome thing to behold.

I'm waiting for two years worth of picture and video files to upload to my external hard drive that I keep here with my dad as a backup.  I also get to pick up Dan from the airport tonight.  Late.  Apparently they are experiencing monsoons in Vegas.  Boo for monsoons.  I'm sitting here listening to my mom banging pots and pans in the kitchen and the heavy breathing of the three biggest boys having a sleep-over in the living room.  The house is being permeated with the delicious aroma of freshly baked bread.  My poor, cracked, eczema-riddled hands are slathered with Bag Balm mixed with DoTerra's "Deep Blue," and covered by breathable cotton gloves.  Utah is not kind to my hands. Breathable cotton gloves are hard to type in.  I'm tired.  I am bone-deep tired.  My eyes don't want to stay open, but stay open they must. If I close them now, I'll never make it to Salt Lake to pick up my honey.  And that's just not acceptable.  I am so excited to see Dan.  I've missed him.  Spouses shouldn't be apart.  Sure, marriage is tough, but I'd rather face a "together tough" than the alternative.  Every time I travel with our kids alone, I gain a renewed appreciation for single parents.  I simply cannot fathom how they do it.  Life.  Alone.  Kids. Alone.  Travel always makes me double up on my prayers for them and the expression of gratitude for my Prince Charming.

So, while I'm killing time . . .  Here are some random things I don't want to forget about where my children are in life right now.

Soren (7 almost 8):

~ loves telling jokes

~ is a Chatty Cathy

~ never hesitates to help out his Mama

~ always asks such thought-provoking and insightful questions

~ totally gets my jokes and sarcasm (I LOVE THIS!)

~ has a hard time falling asleep at night because he can't stop thinking

~ remembers EV-ERY-THING

~ listened to ALL of General Conference this last weekend and shared with me some thoughts he had about specific talks and speakers

~ is almost eight (GAH! Gotta plan a baptism and birthday party, pronto!)

~ loves his little brother Karsten

~ reads to his little brother Karsten

~ is such a great example to friends and family

~ hates avocado (it's a texture thing, I guess, but I still think he's NUTS for this one!)

~ adores his cousin, Caleb

~ wants to build something meaningful so badly

Anders (5 almost 6):

~ is my super sassy pants lately ("Well, I just won't eat then." "I don't care." "Well, I won't do that, Mom.")

~ is also my lover boy and gives the BEST hugs

~ is extremely territorial about his Legos

~ has an insane attention to detail in a kid his age

~ loves the tiny Lego pieces like weapons and animals and flowers and "crystals," etc

~ is so creative with Legos

~ is slowly enjoying reading more, increasingly attempting to read signs and books by himself

~ has the cutest "proud" expression when receiving praise

~ is afraid to go anywhere in our house by himself at night (and sometimes, oddly, during the day, too)

Karsten (2):

~ doesn't walk, doesn't run, doesn't shuffle or skip, but LUMBERS everywhere

~ has the loudest slap slappy feet in the universe (seriously so easy to know when he's moving about the house)

~ has a gnarly overbite from sucking his thumb

~ has the cutest lisp from said gnarly overbite

~ has the funniest chewing from said gnarly overbite

~ makes us laugh daily with his toddler antics

~ has definitely arrived at the terrible two's

~ is quite the stubbornly independent fellow lately ("No.  MY do it!")

~ says "soft Oskar" when he wants to rub Oskar's head
~ calls spooky skeletons "pooky talkalins"
~ calls Harry Potter "Hippo Potter"
~ calls his BYU football t-shirt his "TV Ball" (Probably because we always watch BYU football on TV??)
~ will walk up to anyone and demand "read book" while handing them his selection

Oskar (4 months):
~ is so stinkin' ticklish, just like all my boys
~ thinks diaper changes are the funniest thing and giggles the entire way through
~ buries his head and scrunches himself up on my chest when he's hungry and is trying to make his way to his food
~ is so, so, so smiley with everybody
~ grabs things and sticks them in his mouth
~ gets up on his hands and knees and rocks back and forth (I've NEVER had a baby do that this early!!)
~ just started rolling back to belly while here in Utah (has been rolling belly to back for a month or a month and a half now)
~ gets so many comments on his delicious rolls of chub
~ unless he's hungry, tired, or has a dirty diaper (and sometimes even despite all three of those!), he's an amazingly good-natured baby
~ is absolutely adored and fawned over by his three older brothers
~ awards his daddy with the best giggles (probably because his daddy gives him the funniest faces to elicit said giggles)