Simple Thoughts of a Simple Girl

Mother's Day 2012

I realized when we got ready to take the traditional Mother's Day photos before church this was the first year I didn't have all my kids with me :( So, we improvised and included Nick anyway!

We (meaning all of us except Nick) are counting the days until we head to Texas for his graduation and get to bring him home. And even though he and Christian will head off to BYU less than a week after we get home, at least my boys will be a mere 2 1/2 hour drive away. Close enough for occasional weekend visits :) That is the best Mother's Day gift for this mom!

PS--I love that quote above although I'm still working on forgiving myself for all my mothering mistakes--that's A LOT of mistakes!!!! Gratefully my kids are resilient and are doing ok, inspite of their mom most days. Hopefully they give me credit for having my heart in the right place even if I don't always get things right ;)

A special "Mother's Day Shout Out" to these 2 ladies. One who I know first hand put my happiness and well-being ahead of her own every day of my life--and still does. The other who I know did so many of the right things because I see the results of her labor in the good husband and father she raised that my kids and I are blessed to be with forever.

And a Mother's Day bonus this year: We got to participate in a 3-way Skype with the cute moms (and dads) of these 2 adorable babies!

Texas Tour of Friends

That's what I've been calling Megan's 12th birthday trip.

Cannot believe I officially have a Young Woman in the house! Twelve years ago we were so excited to bring home a beautiful baby girl. And I was even more excited 6 months later when I got to "retire" my professional career in Human Resources to become a Stay-at-home-mom working full-time with the best "human resources"! 

Flash forward 12 years and that beautiful, painfully shy baby girl has become a beautiful, still somewhat shy young woman who I am so grateful to be her mom.

Her birthday started with breakfast in bed provided by her little sister--all Lexi's idea.

Dinner of choice that evening was at Olive Garden. We were joined by Aunt Shirlene, Dustin and YeonMi. Unfortunately I have no pictures because the birthday girl wanted no photos :( A couple of her new Utah friends were very kind and dropped by presents that day as well--such cute girls. 

And then the real celebration began. . . 

This move has been especially hard on Megan. As shy as she is, she developed many good, strong friendships in Frisco and she misses those friends desperately! For her 12th birthday the only thing she asked for was to go to Texas to visit her friends and spend time with her big brother (she hates that Nick isn't here). Matt and I debated and discussed. We were scheduled to go to Texas the day after her birthday. We wanted to take her with us but we weren't sure if it would make things better or worse. With an agreement from Megan that she would not come back to Utah moping and angry after getting to go to Texas, we gave her the gift of the trip. (She informed me that she couldn't promise not to be sad, but she would be sad in the privacy of her own room!)

So, in the course of 7 days, we scheduled as much friend time as possible. Considering the Texas kids were still in school I think we fit in as much as physically possible. Her itinerary for the week:

• Friday. Land  at DFW and head directly to spend the night with Karen G.
• Saturday. Go to the hotel long enough to shower and eat lunch with the family. Spend the afternoon and night with Alexis G.
• Sunday. Tin Star brunch with the family. Attend Young Womens for the first time in her old Ward. They were so sweet and welcomed her with gifts just like she was still one of their own. That evening we spent at the Dalebouts and Shelley made sure we celebrated Megan's birthday.
• Monday. The two of us had lunch with Shelley, Meredith, Jacob and Sam and then some real shopping at Target :) Hang out with Megan C. after school and then dinner with the family.
• Tuesday. Slept in REALLY late with Dad at the hotel making up for the weekend sleepovers. (I returned to Utah on Tuesday morning). After school she got to hang out with Rebecca C. and Nick.
• Wednesday. Dad took her to lunch at her Clark Middle School. After school she spent time with Kendall B., went to a play at the middle school, and attended practice with her old volleyball team the Rockstars.
• Thursday. Spent the day with the Smiths, got to surprise Ms. Mae when Jacob went to his piano lesson, went to Nick's indoor soccer game and then spent the night with Alexis G. one more time and Sidney J. spent the night as well. 

I am beyond grateful to all those generous parents who made time in their busy, end-of-year schedules to let my daughter spend time with her friends. Megan had the time of her life! And she has been true to her word--although I know she still misses her friends just as much, she has handled her emotions well since returning to Utah.

Her dad did try to ease some of the pain of returning to Utah with a new toy in just her size:

Again I will say "Being a parent is hard." I hurt for my daughter when I see her pain at missing her friends and old home. But I have to cling to those confirmations I had when we made this decision to move. I really believe that long term this is the right thing for our family. Although if I'm completely honest, there are days, especially right now,  that I question what we did! Time will tell if we just lost our minds, or really were in tune to a higher source :)

What my sweet daughter doesn't understand is that there are days I'm just as sad and homesick for our old home and friends as she is. However, I have the perspective of 40+ years of living to know that those feelings will ease with time. From her 12-year-old view, her feelings of sadness and loneliness are going to last FOREVER!!! 

I'm looking forward to seeing what place we are all in emotionally about this move on her birthday next year. HOPE and FAITH are my constant companions right now :)

The Random Everyday

I'm so behind, I need to do a little random catching up for family history purposes.

Ski Season Ended--literally for Matt. This is not the way you want to come down the mountain the last run of the last day of the season. Torn ACL and injured thumb ligaments were the primary diagnosis. Luckily he knows a really good surgeon and has him on speed dial--the perks of being related. 

The perks of owning four Rehab Clinics--you can doing rehab anytime you want. You can also do it with your son who has bad knees from soccer. Matt's business trips to Texas are currently serving two purposes--checking on the business and rehabing the injuries. The family has season passes for next ski season, so he has to get back to peak performance :)

General Young Women's Broadcast. Megan and I got to join the other young women and moms in our Ward in attending the meeting at the Conference Center in Salt Lake. What a fun experience to be able to attend and feel the great spirit at the meeting.

Easter. The Easter Bunny did find us in Utah much to Lexi's relief! He also found Nick back in Texas, much to Mom's relief!! (Thanks to the Texas Easter Bunny for saving the day). We dyed eggs for the first time in years. And Lexi continued her tradition of treats and a picture for the Easter Bunny. I loved when she showed me the picture and pointed out that she had drawn her and the Easter Bunny going to church--seriously sweet!

New Toys. This new, simple life appears to require some not-so-simple toys according to the other members of the family.

I'm sure they will be embarrassed that I'm not even sure what these new guns are but I know that in addition to the guns and ammo that they purchased, they also had to get some kind of clay target launching system and Zorro LOVES chasing the falling pieces!

Four-wheelers are standard operating equipment in the country according to Matt and Christian. And again, the new equipment leads to additional purchases, in this case a trailer to tow them and shelves that mount on the back to carry all the camping equipment.

Once we had the big, serious four-wheelers, then they decided the girls needed a size they could drive around the land and to the neighbors! Doesn't every girl want her very own pink or purple-camo four-wheeler?! The small ones came this week and I don't think Lexi has stopped driving it since Christian got it put together--seriously, she drove around the house and barn for HOURS yesterday. Megan will get her chance when she gets home from Texas.

School continues. We even had a couple of beautiful spring days where we were able to do math out on the porch. Still feel like we are trying to get into a good routine with school. It may take until next fall which is typical based on all my reading about taking on this new challenge. It is a little more chaotic because of all the traveling we've done since moving. I still think it's going to be a good thing I just need to be patient and give it some time before I make any definitive judgements on our success or lack of success.

A little of the random, everyday of our new life. We are all still adjusting--some better than others. Overall, I would say we are doing pretty good so far and all the change and upheaval are settling into a nice, new normal.

Partying in Texas

I got to spend a short few days in Texas last weekend celebrating several milestones. . .

First on tap was Senior Prom. I cannot believe we are doing this again--sure wish my kids would stop getting older! It's going to be weird when they are older than my "29 and holding" ;)

Nick went with his best friend Alex and they were a GORGEOUS couple in my un-biased opinion!

I learned my lesson with Christian and this time made sure I went to the pre-prom pictures so I could get shots of the group (Christian didn't think to tell us about the tradition). The boys made me laugh when they were the center of attention. They took the parent paparazzi in stride:

I was grateful to know that Nick was going with a good group of friends. And even though we did our parental duty in cautioning him to make good choices on prom night, I was grateful to feel confident that he would make wise choices on a night that many teenagers don't.

While Nick was celebrating this right of passage, Matt and I were attending a family celebration honoring several other rights of passage. Specifically we celebrated Randy's 50th birthday, Matt's mom's 80th birthday and his parents 60th anniversary--all quite significant milestones. It was fun to see family we hadn't seen in quite some time including 2 new additions to the great-grandkids. I didn't get too many good shots--hoping to snag some later from the professional who took pictures that night. It was a beautiful evening and Randy & Micaela hosted a lovely event. 

What a legacy these two have built over 60 years of marriage:

I had a lot of fun creating a photo book capturing bits and pieces of that legacy. I got a lot of help from Shirlene who had awesome photos from before I was part of the family. In addition, I became quite good at "creeping" on the nieces and nephews facebook pages to get photos for the book :) These two sure make 60 years of marriage look good and I'm very grateful for the son they raised that is the perfect husband and father for me and my children.

In addition, we took Megan with us as her 12th birthday gift and she stayed for the week with Matt. Stay tuned for the details of what I am referring to as her "Texas Tour of Friends".

For a week it finally felt like home.

The 2nd week of March was Spring Break for the entire state of Texas and because of that we had a houseful of Texas Boys for several days. I couldn't have been happier! Christian's friends Brett and Brian came to visit. And Nick came home, bringing his buddies Aubrey and Scott. 

With a couple loaner mattresses from Shirlene, we had enough beds for everyone, although some of the boys did get to sleep on very cute, pink bedding :) The bathroom addition we started as soon as we moved in was finished with 2 days to spare. And most importantly, the drink fridge and snack pantry were well-stocked.

From all reports, everyone had a great time and it was so nice to have them here. The girls struggled a little because they miss Nick so much they wanted him to spend every minute with them. He was torn trying to spend time with his buddies while keeping his little sisters happy at the same time. He did his best and in the end we were all just glad to get to have the whole family together even if just for a few days.

In those few days, we were able to fit in quite a bit of activity--hiking, skiing/snowboarding, bonfires, board games, March Madness, late-night movies, eating, sleeping late, and shooting guns.

The week our visitors were here validated one of the reasons we moved here. We chose a place that we hoped our children would one day want to return to when they have families of their own because there is so much to do. Based on this little experiment, I think we have achieved that purpose.

That week was also good for my heart. As much peace as my soul feels being in the mountains, a large part of my heart is still in Texas and it did my heart good to have a small piece of Texas here for a few days. It was so comforting to hear all those familiar voices laughing and talking all hours of the day and night. I'm so grateful their parents trusted them to our care and shared them with us when I'm sure they would have been happy to have them home for Spring Break.

I occasionally have to remind myself when I'm missing my friends and the comfort of our prior life that this new place will become our HOME one memory at a time. We left Texas with 17 years of memories and though we will never replace those memories, we can add a whole new collection of memories created right here in Mendon!

With that being said, I can't wait for more friends to visit--HINT! HINT!!

Our little social butterfly

spread her wings and flew in her new surroundings this week. 

A couple weeks ago Lexi mentioned wanting to have a party and invite the girls from her church class to our house. I casually said that sounded like a nice idea and next thing I know, with the help of her big sister, she had created party invitations and had an outline of the activities and treats she wanted for the "shindig"! I tracked down the list of girls from her class and she distributed the personal invites at church.

Yesterday was the big day and with VERY LITTLE help from me, Lexi, with the assitance of Megan, hosted a fun get-together. There was cupcake decorating, karoke, hide-n-seek, dancing and even a fashion show.

Moving from the only home you've ever known and friends you've grown up with is HARD! But I'm proud of this little girl making such a valiant effort to begin building a whole new group of friends. And I know I'm biased--but I think she will be an awesome addition to this little community!

Megan is having a harder time with building a new group of friends (actually with wanting to build a new group). But, 11-12 is a really hard age to move. Realizing that it's OK to be sad and miss your former home and friends while still trying to establish a new life is difficult to comprehend at this age. She feels like she is going to be sad and miss Texas forever. We are just trying to be supportive and let her know it's OK to be sad while still trying to encourage her to look for the good things in our new life.

Needless to say, some days I'm pretty exhausted from playing cheerleader! I've spent a lot of time praying specifically for her lately and I see those prayers being answered. I hope someday she'll look back and see how a loving Heavenly Father understood her feelings and loved her enough to send comfort and support through various means. I still feel like this was a good move for our family, I just have to help my daughter see that. Unfortunately, that is probably going to take some patience, faith and time!

Dad, is skiing a sport?

Lexi's question to Matt after several times down the mountain on Tuesday.

Matt: Yes, it is.

Lexi: Then it's my very favorite sport!

Matt: Even though you fall down?

Lexi: I fall down in soccer and volleyball and I like skiing way better.

The only time the girls had tried skiing was several years ago and it was nothing short of a disaster!! Snot-running-down-the-face tears and that was just getting through the process of renting equipment and getting to the bunny hill! It was during Christmas break and pretty crowded and overwhelming for them.

This time was different. We went in the middle of the week and there were less 50 cars in the parking lot. We rented equipment the day before so all we had to do was put the skis on and hit the hill. It was a bit icy since it is spring skiing and the snow has been light in Utah this year but overall conditions were good. The weather was pleasant as well--a little wind, a little snow and a little sun through the course of the day.

Christian decided he wanted to try snowboarding and although we suggested taking a lesson he was determined to teach himself. He appeared to be pretty succesful at getting the basics down.

You will notice no pictures of Megan or me. Unfortunately, Megan's experience this time was not much better than her first thanks to the inexperience of her mother!! Somehow we got separated from the others and it ended up taking us more than an hour and half to get down an easy run. Because I've only been a handful of times and those times were several decades ago, I might as well be starting over. Thanks to my status as a novice, I did not fully understand how to click a boot in a ski and when Megan's ski fell off, our trip down the mountain derailed!! We spent a VERY LONG time trying to get her boot clicked in over and over and over . . . We eventually made our way down very slowly with Megan walking and me trying to carry her skis while I did my best to stay in control on somewhat icy slopes.

When we FINALLY found the rest of the family in the lodge, they had already been  up the lift 4 times. They assumed we had been doing the same. Megan and I were both DONE at that point. We opted to stay in the lodge while they went again. I really thought Megan would never try it again. We just sat and relaxed and watched all the skiers for awhile. I reassured her that it was my lack of experience that had made the experience so challenging and I knew she could have fun skiing if she gave it a try and stuck with Dad.

After a while the emotions began to dissipate as well as the physical exhaustion from the experience. As Megan saw how much fun Lexi was having she began to say she wanted to go down with Lexi and Dad. I quickly supported that thought and we got her back in her boots and skis. She did go down one more time and it was a much better experience. I was relieved for two reasons. One, I didn't want her to give up on the sport yet and was proud of her for trying again. Two, she had been invited to go skiing later in the week with a new friend and I really didn't want her to back out.

Gratefully she went with her friend Millie yesterday even though I knew she was nervous. Based on reports from Millie's mom, the day started out rough but by afternoon the girls were going up and down the lift and really enjoying themselves. Yay!!!

I was so proud of her for getting out of her comfort zone and doing something that made her nervous and uncomfortable. This move has been really hard on my sweet girl (more on that later) and so any positive experiences she can have are extremely important right now.  I was grateful that the negative experience of skiing Tuesday was quickly replaced by the positive yesterday.

As requested. . .

A few photos of the house. I really wanted take some pictures with snow on the ground since we don't have any grass yet :) We finally had enough to get some decent shots.

The front of the house:

The back of the house:

Zoro standing guard on the property:

Zoro LOVES the snow--he rolls around in it and sticks his face in it all the time. I wish I could capture in a photo how he leaps through the snow. The two little dogs aren't quite as thrilled! Although they do love getting to run on the property with Matt.

One of my favorite things so far is the view from our bedroom window at night, especially when the snow reflects off the mountains and we can see the lights of Logan in the distance. If we knew how to get a good night shot, you would see the spires of the Logan Temple shining in the distance--so pretty at night.

Last night it was so clear and peaceful. Matt grabbed the camera and stepped out on the front porch to capture a picture of Orion's Belt--can you see it? The night skies are spectacular here and it is so incredibly quiet and peaceful!

There really is something so peaceful and inspiring for me being near the mountains. 

A short, sweet, surprise for Senior Night

Last week was the Titan's Senior night game. It's the annual event when all the Seniors are recognized in a ceremony prior to the game. I was bummed when I saw how early in the season the game was because I knew it was so soon after our move that I probably couldn't be there. However, my  good husband knew that I would be sad being so far away on such an important night for Nick and he insisted that I fly out for the game. Matt was already going to be in Texas for 10 days for work and made sure to plan his travel dates to allow him to see several of Nick's games including Senior Night. 

We decided to make it a surprise so we didn't tell Nick I was coming even though we had the tickets before we even left Texas. And in spite of several of us (Me, Christian, Matt, & Meredith) trying to give away the secret, Nick never did figure it out--one of the few times I've been grateful for his lack of attention ;)

I was grateful to be there and enjoy the celebration. Nick had his own cheering section as the Smith's and Dalebout's joined us at the game that night.

This "Mama Bear" (Nick's name for me) was so glad to get to be there and spend some time with Nick for a weekend. We text and talk regularly but it's not the same as having him under the same roof as us. He's doing great and the Crawfords are taking such good care of him for which I will be forever grateful. 

Of course, I had to fit in as much "Shelley and Mer time" as possible during my short visit. No pictures of any of that because I just focused on enjoying every moment visiting and catching up with them. Still miss them :(

Also fit in some Target time--much to the girl's pleasure when I showed up at home with 2 bags full of new things for them! I'm getting used to shopping at the Super Wal-Mart here for groceries but I REALLY miss Target for household items and kids clothes!

It was a short but very sweet trip. So grateful for the chance to be there for one of Nick's Senior year milestones. LOVE that BOY!!!!

Speaking of milestones, Nick has had several pieces of happy mail the last couple weeks. Now, he just has to start making some decisions! As mom, I am happy that two of the choices would have him residing in the same state as us :)

Settling In To Our New Life

We may be living in the country, but the men in the house made sure the Direct TV was hooked up the first day--it was Super Bowl weekend after all!

The Logan Hickens (we are the Mendon Hickens) were so much help that first few days: picking up food for the moving crew, getting us supplies like snow shovels and pantry organizers, feeding us Sunday dinner, and organizing my kitchen. That reminds me--Shirlene, I owe you money!

The girls arrived late at night and couldn't see anything when they got to the new house. First thing the next morning they went out with Matt to meet our closest "neighbors". 

Little things I'm appreciating in our new small-town, country, mountain living:

A little snow doesn't stop the locals. The first day of mulch delivery was perfectly clear, day 2 however was a different story and they still showed up! Also, did you know mulch can smell really good? We had 5 dump truck loads of mulch brought in and the type Matt bought from the landfill has pine tree shavings and it smells like we are up in the middle of the forest when we step outside--who knew?!

Small-town post offices are very quaint and the postmaster knows everyone by name. We do not even have a mailbox--we go to the Post Office and get our mail from our PO Box. 

Even things like trash pick-up take on a whole new meaning. When we roll out our cans to the curb here it involves loading the cans into the truck and driving them down to the paved road. The girls would never have considered offering to roll up the trash cans after pick-up before. Here it's an adventure.

If you look closely in the picture below you will see 2 trash cans in the distance being rolled back to the house:

The dogs LOVE not being on leashes when they go for walks. Zoro literally leaps and bounces through the fields while the girls walk or ride bikes or drive the mini-car. And who knew he would love the snow so much--he cannot keep from rolling around in the snow with delight. I wouldn't say the 2 small dogs are as thrilled with the snow although they do seem to be adapting and have learned the tire tracks aren't nearly as deep and much easier to do their business on :)

This area has had an extremely mild winter which was great for moving but the girls have really been anxious for some snow. The first day it snowed (when the mulch was being delivered) it didn't last long but they took advantage of it. Matt had to run into WalMart and purchase a few winter toys including a couple sleds.

Then Saturday night, we got a bunch of snow that has stayed around. Of course Matt is in Texas so I had to figure out how to operate the shovel Greg and Shirlene got us so I could make a path for the dogs to get out and do their business. Our circle drive all of the sudden looked very big from behind a snow shovel (I believe a snow blower of some sort will be on our "things to buy" list). Gratefully, the builder of our home has a tractor and because he is building another home out here, he takes care of the gravel road that leads to our house. Who knew I'd be so happy to see this out my window Sunday morning--we would be able to make it to church thanks to Dan:

The people have been very kind and welcoming. I know there are pluses and minuses to a small town but so far we are happy with the area. We are considered out on the very edge of town, so we really have a lot of privacy. In fact, nobody even knew that the previous owners had sold their house and when we introduced our family at church and said we had moved into their home, people were quite surprised! Word does get around quickly however--example: Matt pulled over to help at an accident on the way home the other day and got to talking with another man at the scene and when Matt introduced himself as having just moved here, the man remarked "I heard there were some new people from Texas"!

My favorite thing so far--the views from my windows. This is what I fell in love with the first time we walked through the home. All of these pictures were taken from inside the house except for the one of the horses in the snow--I took that with my phone one early morning when I was letting the dogs out to do their business. As we rounded the corner of the house, that is what I saw and it took my breath away. The dogs have selected my office window seat as their favorite place to look out at the views :) And look at the views the girls have from their "class room"! I hope I never grow tired of or take for granted the beauty of this valley. There is just something about the mountains that bring me peace.

There are definitely adjustments and things to learn in this new life but I am trying to recognize all the good things and be grateful for the blessings associated with living here. Not every moment or every day are perfect by any means, but I am enjoying the challenges as well as the benefits of our new home.