The Anniversary and Family Reunion

We felt so blessed and honored to be a part of Nathan's Mom and Dad's special 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Very amazing to me.  I personally have never had a great relationship until my husband and even at our worst it's still pretty great.  It's always felt unattainable to me to have this kind of relationship this long so you can imagine the sheer admiration I have for his parents.  Very special and sacred to me.  As are they.

We arrived on campus at Weber State for their party.  I was both excited and sick to my stomach.  I can't speak for everyone else in the family but I'm sure curiosity was on their lists.  It was a beautiful setting.  Very elegant decorations around the room.  My favorite part of that setting?  The smiling faces in the crowd all lit up.  So many of these people had not seen each other since they had lived in South Africa.  The energy in the room was bright and happy.  Filled with an abundance of stories and cherished memories.  I enjoyed it immensely.  But nothing, to me, could compare to the joy that filled my husband as he swapped memories with old friends and you could see him relive a big part of his life.  It was.....humbling.  It showed how much he misses his home in South Africa.  It made me so happy to see his happiness.  I was thrilled to meet each and every one of his friends and family that day and watch our children interact with all of this as well.  Our youngest took quite a shine to her sweet uncle who if he grew tired of her chattering on so never showed it. We left the party that day with happy hearts and memories.  It was magical.

In anticipation of having to wake up early the next day and travel, we opted for a small dinner, little television and a lot of sleep.  Packing was easy as we packed light to begin with.  The excitement building to see family we hadn't seen in over eight years and meet new family grew.  But it was easy to sleep that night.

The next day, Brittany and Dyllan especially, were all bright eyed and bushy tailed.  We packed up the van, checked out of the hotel, ate a fairly light breakfast and hit the road.  The travel from northern Idaho to Great Falls Montana is tremendously beautiful.  Many times Nathan and I would remark this is a good place to retire someday.  We could hide quite happily here in the foothills and mountains.  Just a relaxing, gorgeous scenery.

When we finally hit the Canadian border, sooner than we thought, I had this weird feeling that something was wrong and of course not knowing if it was big or small I, being me, had a tiny panic attack to myself as to not spoil the atmosphere of the car.  After about twenty or so are we there yets in the last hour alone ( thank-you Catie ) our border patrol noticed that Nathan had not signed his passport.  First thing that pops into my head, "And there it is!."  She was merciful and allowed us through.  First thing that pops out of Brittany's mouth, "We got away with it he he."  Onward to Magrath and not quite finished with the are we there yets and now of course we've added bouncing up and down ( me not Catie ) we arrived safe and sound at my parent's home.  Greeted with open arms, a teary Mother, and a nephew we met for the first time.  Wonderful way to begin.  We introduced miss Catie to their french bull dog slooowwwly.  We weren't sure how she would react ( the dog not Catie).  She was a rescued kennel dog.  Although Catie was happy and nervous herself but mostly just happy to be around cousins and a dog.

In the backyard Dad in his genius imagination and creativity had built a tree fort consisting of a single man tent that he could sleep in and also a zip line that went across the backyard.  Fun anticipated.  He also managed another larger tent near the fence, I for one was hoping all the kids would fit but alas, they didn't.  Good to be home.  See those Rocky Mountains, smell that air, look at all that beautiful flowing wheat ( allergies anticipated ), and yum raspberry bushes bordering the garden.  Finally!  We can relax!

Was hot but dry, not like St Louis with her sticky heat.  Quite enjoyable.  We spent a lot of time getting to know our niece and nephew as well as watching all the cousins interact with each other.  I was also curious what Grandpa would think of Catie, she can be such a ham.  Before we knew it, it was time for the Remington Family Reunion.

 Was so great to see family I hadn't seen in a long time and how their families have grown.  There were so many people to meet we didn't stand a chance meeting them all but I was going to try.  The first day was simple.  We had to opportunity to visit the Remington Carriage Center in Cardston, Alberta.  There was soooooo much to see!  First off was our carriage ride around the property.

 A family dinner and program filled with musical talents and reminiscing.  It needs to be said that the roast beef served that night was the best we've ever had anywhere!  The next day was a big family breakfast followed by tubing down the river for the teens and a kids carnival where they would play games and earn pennies to spend at the country store for toys and candy.

 The kids said the water was cold.  What do you expect when you're in the foothills of giant, majestic mountains and tube in a runoff river?  My parents most of this time were working hard to fix lunch for the whooollllle family.  That's a lot of food for a lot of people!  They did an amazing job, food was great. Since this was at a school the kids had a playground at their disposal the entire time and that's good because following lunch was a family auction.  We bid a few times but we lost all of our bids.(happy to help drive up the price Sandy)  After the auction there was a time of story telling from older family members about our ancestors.  So precious.  I feel so honored to be a member of this family heritage.

Onwards exploring Salt Lake City and Provo

It was so brilliantly wonderful and magnificent to sleep in ( to us anyways ) and be able to attend the Salt Lake City Pioneer Day Parade!  The city was just bustling with a fun energy.  We expected the traffic to the square and were delighted to find parking so easily.  It was a very warm day already by 9am so we tried to find a shady spot to enjoy the parade.  It was very hard to find but we managed to watch the beginning of the parade for about a half hour or more in the sunshine before our sweet five year old begged for shade again.  Thankfully we were obviously near lots of tall buildings that were still casting their shadows so all we really had to do was move back a ways.

I loved the creativity and colors of all of the floats that attended.  You could feel the excitement of the marching bands getting ready to perform and also performing.

After about an hour or more our five year old, Catie, decided she was thirsty, and hungry and bored so we worked our way across the street back near the beginning of the parade seeing if that would at least help the boredom.  Very clever parade to keep the horses and wagons on the opposite side some of them spooked really easily my favorite was a dancing horse that started dancing as soon as one of the marching bands began to play.

It was shortly after this that a horse drawn wagon with two occupants drove their way up to where we were standing and our youngest in her excitement was waving at the horses and horse riders going by.  The man driving the team noticed our eldest daughter's shirt that said St Louis on it and asked if that's where we were from and mentioned that his nephew was just about to leave the MTC to serve a mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints in the St Louis area.  Small world.

Again our miss Catie reminded us she was hot, hungry, thirsty, and bored so we made our way across the street for some soft serve to cool down and some steps to rest on in the shade and although we had now migrated to where most floats and bands were waiting to make it to the starting line it allowed us to visit with some and take pictures.  One of our favorite floats was for family history where each corner of the float had a computer with a large computer screen showing individuals doing family history work online.  Then out would pop an ancestor to shake their hand from the screen it was adorable!

After we had finished our soft serves we made our way over to see the Salt Lake City Temple.

The visitor's center, the tabernacle, basically temple square in Salt Lake City.  Since it was Pioneer Day it was considerably busy.  At the end of touring and on our way to Provo to let the teenagers check out BYU campus where Dad once attended, we bumped into two very interesting individuals.  A sister missionary from Cardston, Alberta ( where we were headed after our SLC visit) who was speaking to an elderly gentleman who served a mission in Pretoria, South Africa ( where my husband grew up).  What a small and amazing world we live in.

We finally managed to make our way to Provo and almost didn't recognize the drive there from Salt Lake!  Everything had grown so much and looked so different it was extraordinary to see how much everything had changed.  Even the BYU campus was hard to navigate at first as it in itself has changed alot over the years but we managed.  Dad had the opportunity to show his children places he had lived, experiences with roomates, where some of his classes were and stories of his teachers.  It was a great experience for our family.

We then headed to another significant event for our family.  We went to a pot luck dinner in the park in Provo with returned missionaries who had served in our ward back home and were now home or attending BYU.  It had been the first time for some of them who had all served in the area together to see each other and our first time seeing all of them since they had fulfilled their missions and returned home to continue on with their exciting lives.  It was a rare and happy time for all of us.  I miss them already.

Still Recovering and Forcing Forward Motion

Fourteen hours.  That's how long our first day of driving towards Utah was, we landed in Denver.  At least ten of those hours were spent driving, visiting, enjoying each other's company.  We were all so thrilled and excited to get to spend time together, just us.  Didn't really matter how as long as we could.  The anticipation of all the things to come on our vacation created a wonderful ere of excitement.  Timing five people for bathroom breaks, the youngest being five, is an impossible task.  There were times we'd stop and fifteen minutes later after beginning our drive again we'd hear, "I have to go to the bathroom."  A roll of the eyes, a giggle, sometimes even a what do we do now we're in Kansas and there's not a rest stop or town for another 30 miles.  But we did okay.  We made it tired and happy to be safe.

We reached our hotel that evening without much trouble finding it.  The swarm of police surrounding it helped.  Swat van, detectives, and police cruisers were everywhere.  Made us uneasy but since we made a reservation here we entered the parking lot and hubby went inside to investigate what was going on.  While he was safe inside his family was sitting in the van wide eyed at all the happenings.  At one point I had put my window down to hear if any of the people in front of us and by that I mean the people who were gathering on the lawn in front of the hotel, byob and let's see who's getting arrested, knew what was going on.  I noticed a gathering of police and detectives around two individuals and watched one of them push the officers away from him as they crowded around him and shoved him up against the light pole in front of us, cue the window going up and doors locking.  When hubby returned I believe his comments were at least they have a good response time and we should be safe here look at all security.  That night was tiring, interesting, a little nerve wracking but to be honest we were too wiped out to care and slept well that night despite any drunk patrons wandering down the hall searching for their room that was on the next floor.

In the morning we felt renewed and rested, smiles on our faces headed to breakfast where our hotel morning manager was very friendly and talkative.  He informed us of a haunted hotel and some other haunted establishments in the Denver area if we were into that sort of thing.  Of course this topic took shape when we mentioned that his cheerio dispenser was turning itself and dropping cereal everywhere.  We were thrilled to see the rockies again it had been so long for us!  The kids were taking many pictures and commenting on how beautiful it was and how much they missed it.  Our youngest seeing their enjoyment became elated herself with the view and also was very good for us on the drive ahead listening to everyone's "I can't wait to do" lists.  We're very proud of her for traveling so well for us.  Not as many are we there yet's as one would expect.

Sunny, gorgeous, not muggy, no humidity.  Salt Lake City.  Such a beautiful valley.  Although we were wondering when they started driving like they were NASCAR racers?  It's a freeway not a racetrack and it tickled us to see the big signs overhead saying no fatalities on the interstate in 7 days.  Hoping they would make it at least 10 since that's how long we were staying there.

To be continued...

Offering Support

Treat others how you want to be treated.  Most of us have parents that have exhausted that phrase and we ourselves with children probably use it often as well.  Sometimes though, the person you are 'treating' isn't like you at all or has little in common with you and might not see life as you do.  Although this is a very valid and understandable phrase, especially with children I think it gets much more complicated as an adult.  Observance is a necessary start, taking inventory of the situation your friend may be in first and hearing their opinion and game plan is much more beneficial.  Through my own personal experience I find that the phrase what do you need me to do for you is much better.

We all hit brick walls of life's challenges constantly and some brick walls we only need our sledge hammer, some strength and some faith.  But some challenges need a bridge or a tunnel much too difficult to do on our own.  Do we ask for help when we are stuck or do we shy away in the shadows of embarrassment or pure stubborn nature, avoiding a faster and more meaningful result?  I myself have been annoyed on several occasions with the how are you question that usually requires no response on my part whatsoever as it has now become socially acceptable to simply ask and expect an I'm fine answer in return so that you can carry on about your day telling yourself I'm a good person for asking.  My problem is in the insincerity of it all.  When is the last time you were genuinely listening to the best of your attention span and ability to the answer?  When was the last time you answered truthfully with more than "I'm fine"?

Tricky sometimes isn't it.  It's so wonderful when those few and far between moments of grand miracles arrive in life.  Someone paying you back or giving you a bonus just when you need the extra buck.  Someone brings over an abundance of garden treasures because they cannot possibly finish it on their own when you are struggling to provide food for your family.  That last minute phone call to save you from the unemployment line when you knew layoffs were coming and your application has been accepted at another job.  So marvelous when that happens.  But let's face it, most of the time, it doesn't.  Everyone is in such a different place in life and I myself have lent money or emotional support the best I could for as long as I could and been burned for the effort.

I can't support others if I'm not in a good place myself to begin with, it would only make things worse for those I'm trying to help and I can't sit idly by either when I see others struggle.  I do what I can when I can and that's enough.  As long as I am genuine about it, as long as I am putting forth a solid effort to do what needs to be done I'm happy with that.  I'm not perfect.  I can't always do everything for everyone all at once it overwhelms me but I definitely do have a desire to.  All we can do is our best.

As of late I have been determined to pay more attention to those around me when they speak to me and really take a genuine interest in what they're saying, even if I disagree.  Usually I feel pulled in more than one conversation at a time and have always had at least one individual be cross with me because I didn't hear the whole story or come back to them if we were interrupted.  Distractions are everywhere and I'm working on that.  If I want someone to take an interest in me, my thoughts, my experiences and knowledge in life then I have to start that way with them.  They might say something that they truly need help with or comfort for or even just an ear to vent it out loud helps.  I'll try not to criticize and hopefully they will return the favor.  It means a lot to us all to be heard.  Even if others don't agree with everything we think and say it's so important to support and uplift each other.  Find common ground.  Love and listen with real intent.  Put meaning back into the conversation.

Kindergartener

Since my youngest and I have ventured into homeschooling Kindergarten this summer she has made soooooo much progress.  Our opening exercises consist of a an opening prayer, reciting the pledge of allegiance, what the weather is like today, and the days of the week.  In the beginning just the opening exercises felt a bit overwhelming to her but I knew she could do it!

We have 5 subjects a day and three of them are what I guess I consider daily staples.  Reading, Writing, and Math.  We also on different days do Art, Geography, Science, and Spelling.  I always believed the expression children are sponges when it comes to absorbing knowledge but wow!  We began at the beginning of June and now she can read because she learned that sounding out the letters helps her figure out what the word says and is becoming very proficient in a hurry.  She can say the Pledge of Allegiance on her own.  She reads maps and understands how to use a compass.  She's learned about plants her five senses, the difference between reptiles and mammals in more detail than I thought a five year old can handle and currently grasping the concept of the difference between the human world and the natural world.  He math is acceptional she wants no help with addiction, needs limited help for subtraction and is already getting bored with single digits.  In a month!

I have to admit deciding to home school was the hardest decision I've ever made realizing the time commitment to prepare plans and the patience when she definitely acts like she's five.  Temper tantrums wear off eventually but it's like aftershocks of 3 years right? Hahaha  I as a Mom and just plain human being usually feel inadequate about, well, everything and so her be so successful gives me hope that I might be worth something to somebody.  So please with her progress and willingness to learn, she's eager for it.  We have so much fun together most days and adding her swimming lessons, playdates, playgroup and gymnastics she keeps me busy!

Middle of Summer and Just Getting Started

So far so good this month!  Catie is excelling in Kindergarten at home, some days we struggle and butt heads but that sounds familiar ( Brittany) we find a way and continue on our quest for knowledge and playful learning.  Catie just started her swimming lessons so far she's a very good listener and the class is only 35 minutes long.  They have two teachers and about 9 kids in their class.  The first day of swim class will be memorable.  The teachers were performing the alligator swimming poem to encourage the kids to jump to them in the water one child at a time as the water is higher than them.  As the saying goes boys will be boys and we had a scary incident with the whole two boys in the class.  The teachers were helping two of their little swimmers to the ladder to climb out of the pool and one of the boys was too anxious and jumped in on his own and struggled to gasp for air.  Of course like I said the teachers already had children they were helping swim to the side in their arms so his timing couldn't have been worse.  He went under a lot but came out alright in the end.  A beautiful example of what not to do in swim class, which of course was lost on the second boy as we he too shortly after was overanxious as well and jumped in when their backs were turned helping others a second time.  I'm just glad that Catie has the right idea of wait for my teachers to catch me then jump in the water.  Phew!

Catie is also steadily participating in her gymnastics class over the summer.  She absolutely loves her new teacher over at Olympiad Gymnastics!  She has a good sized class of 7 children and is always excited to listen and participate in the new things she's learning there.  It's great to see her so happy.  Lately St Louis has been plagued with storms and rain the past week with another week to go so all of our family waterpark outings have been put on hold until we see a nice big break in the weather.  Need sunshine to warm up the water now don't we.  But that's ok because all of the kids are involved in a lot this summer.  Still have volleyball camp and Young Women's Camp coming up excited to see my teenagers explore and have fun!

This past week Brittany and Dyllan had the opportunity to attend Youth Conference with the St Louis North Stake.  They started with registration, receiving matching t-shirts, 'family' and bus assignments and a dance.  Although our son Dyllan isn't always fond of dancing in public he has discovered that since he's outnumbered 4 girls to 1 boy that he has quite the advantage when asking girls to dance lol.
Brittany had asked a friend to join them on this free event paid for by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints that at first had resistant parents who she wore down ( the friend not Britt) and convinced them to let her go leaving my living room with three teenage girls over night.  My son was just so thankful he got to keep his bed, we usually offer it to company when company comes to town.  Luckily for me one of the teenager girls had parents that were 'parents' aka chaperones during this Conference that volunteered to pick up the four teens at 4:30am to meet the buses to Kansas City by 5.  Still got up with them to ask them if they had everything and to eat breakfast but then I got to go back to bed ahhhhhhh.

They toured many sites in Kansas City had a dinner and dance outside that night in the parking lot of the LDS Independence Visitor's Center.  They said they loved touring this site and enjoyed the dance and dinner I believe Jimmy John's served dinner very good for teens.  They stayed overnight at the Hilton by the KC airport which according to one kid was posh and the other not as posh lol.  The next morning they served in a worn down part of the city they now lovingly refer to as 'The Neighborhood'.  It was very filthy and run down and just under 200 LDS youth put on their work gloves, grabbed a trash bag and started cleaning it.  What impresses me the most is that regardless of how gross and stinky it was they carried on smiling, goofing off with friends, and in a generally upbeat mood thankful for the opportunity to help restore hope to this community.  In fact there was one older gentleman who said just that to our son, "Thank-you for what you're doing for all of us today.  You bring us hope."  What a wonderful opportunity to serve and to be more thankful for what you have in your own lives.

They then traveled to Far West and Adam-Ondi-Ahman.  At Adam-Ondi-Ahman they along with their 'families' ( their groups of kids and chaperones) had family home evening.  They learned about what Adam-Ondi-Ahman was and enjoyed visiting in their smaller groups.  I am sure that this was a great spiritual moment for most, but what really impressed me was that this entire group was covered in butterflies that showed up flying around them but landed comfortably on all of them without hesitation.  How peaceful.  How special.  How still.  Of course after that was dinner aka pizza aka number one hit with teens.  They climbed on the buses and got home late but happy with lots of good and fun experiences to remember and cherish.

I am thankful that my children include me as much as they do as teenagers and want me to be a part of their everyday lives.  It's such a rewarding feeling to see them learn and discover that they are an important part of this world and that they will have no trouble finding their place in it.  How important it is to be a productive part of society and your community and school.  Our children are just the world to us, challenge us and uplift us every day.  Looking forward to the rest of our summer and the experiences we have yet to have.

What a Day I'm Having!!

If I would have known what kind of day was coming I think I would have begged for the miracle of time travel to a time where I could get that confidence boost from previous triumph or good day to help carry me through this one. I feel like Alexander and have joined him in a terrible horrible no good very bad day.

I woke up way too early this morning for a summer vacation ( 5:30) and finally rolled out of bed around 6.  Aunt Rose is visiting and she brings with her the tightening and cramping of what feels to be all my innards in a boxing match.  Have to take my  hypothyroid med before I can take any pain killers.  So annoyed.  I do my hair, brush my teeth, get dressed, and discover when I walk into the front room that the fallen paint water cup stain, an event that was wonderful in and of itself ( she says sarcastically) fell all over my white carpet and to my chagrin is still prominently black, well maybe a dark grey.  Resolve has failed me.

I have a family member this morning that woke up with a full emotional plate and seemed a bit down.  I hugged and asked if there was anything I can do with a no response. ( frustrating)  I smile and listen as they speak somewhat about what's bothering them and then ask again if there's anything I can do to help.  This time the answer is, "No I'm fine." ( stare here )

I go to do some banking and due to a viral event last week with our computer have changed all of our passwords.  Makes banking interesting.  I wrote everything down so I wouldn't mess anything up or forget to discover that apparently some of the financial institutions I work with don't like my new passwords and I have been locked out of at least 3 of them this morning.  That's awesome.

Have already dropped off and picked up our oldest daughter from basketball practice.  She pushed herself too hard and became extremely dizzy and nauseated.  Having our background with seizures I of course try not to panic and pray that there will be no event before or after picking her up as she and our son are headed to a youth dance tonight and then out of town on a youth trip.  My calm attitude about this event is now riddled with worry which hopefully subsides when I realize that she'll be with lots of adult leaders and friends, they both will, and if anything happens I'm not that far away.  Haven't quite realized it yet even though she seems fine and says she's fine.

I have yet to start our day of kindergarten because I'm struggling to keep the older kids motivated enough to prepare for their departure this weekend as well as inform our little one of all the reasons that she can't go with them.  Fun fun.  I would have looked at it as good the older kids are gone Mom and Dad are mine!  But she feels a bit left out.  When she starts getting all the attention this weekend and then her brother and sister return I assure you they will become an inconvenience for her.

I still have plenty of driving kids to and fro this afternoon and evening as well as tomorrow early morning ( I'll be up at 4am) and we will still be having Kindergarten today even though my kindergartner will be pouting the entire time 'cause she can't go.  Hmph!  At this point having finally had the chance to eat breakfast ( only took me 5 hours ) and taken my diabetic medication I can now soothe Aunt Rose's vice grip on my uterus long enough to make it to and fro with my kids.  Ahh life is great isn't it?