Word on the Streets

when a two month old needs six month old onsies. . .

he looks something like this kiddo. sam is only two months and he is wearing six month onsies at this point. 

52:4 tired

each morning i drag my sleepy body out of bed to get jack and morgan off to school and sam changed, bathed and fed. then after jack and morgan are gone i ready myself for a long morning walk. i've been good so far at doing this each morning for the past few weeks and i've felt great after the walk. it is just getting my aching body up and moving in the morning that i find difficult. i am beyond tired in the mornings just before everyone wakes up. can you see it in my face? oh yes. this is raw! but it is real and real life for me in the mornings is tired right now!

[also see: jenn, michelle, heather, tracey, stacey, andrea, kristin, amanda, amanda, sara, rhonda, heather a, jessica, carla, rose, naomi, tracy, heidi, veronica]

two bugs in a rug. . .[morgan and sam]

morgan finds little ways to be near sam. today i found him reading to sam when he was doing his reading homework. sam seemed completely transfixed to listen and even appeared to be following along on the page. it was the cutest thing i'd seen that day and i was lucky enough to stealthily grab my camera. later morgan got sam on the couch with him and covered both of them in a blanket and called for me to come take a picture of "two bugs in a rug" as he called them. 

times like this, when he seeks out ways to be with sam make me over-joyed to have had sam. having sam was as much for rod and me to enjoy raising him as it was for both jack and morgan to have the happiness that comes from having siblings. sam will be someone for them that they cannot be for each other. he will be the different one--the one not like either of them but the one in whom both of them can develop a unique brotherly relationship. both jack and morgan independently will be able to have a close relationship with sam in their own way. i'm already seeing it happen at this very young age for sam. it makes me just swell with happiness.

12 of 2012. . .[photography]

i have two local photography friends, heather abbott and kristin conk, who are alumni with me from the same photography instructor. we live really far apart across all ends of the valley and even now one of them is outside the valley in logandale! so we've decided to join up and do a photography project together once a month. each month we've chosen a theme and we are each to take a photo relating to that theme and what's going on in our lives that month. then kristin collages our images and we all get to post them on our blogs. this month was our first one. i love how both kristin and heather found their theme interrpretted similarly. and my photo--well, sam is a huge portion of how i spend my days and nights and i love when he sleeps because i ooogle over his perfect skin and long eyelashes.

this month's theme was CALM. [heather's blog / kristin's blog]

random photos from the month of january. . .

i have some random photos that make me happy sitting on my computer and thought i'd share them.

1) mr. who and mr. who-ha: i found these two little robotish men on my sliding glass window the day the cleaning ladies came to clean my home. i was so wanting to keep them up but at the same time i wanted my window to be cleaned. so i took a photo of them for their originators to remember them by. jack and morgan, i love your artwork so much but i really am glad the cleaning ladies came so i could think to take a photo of these little men you drew on our glass doors. i love such little men! love, mom.

2) i had to cook dinner and sam needed to eat--all at the very same time. sam got his dinner and i cooked dinner--at the same time. and it gave me the giggles to see his little feet from under the blanket while drinking his bottle. i love everything about him especially those baby toes!

3) i am always in awe of how peacefully sam sleeps. when i put him in the carseat he snuggles in and knows we are going in the car or on a soothing stroller ride so he most of the time closes his eyes and falls into dreamland. a sleeping baby is one of the most peaceful looking sights ever! and check out those eyelashes!

4) vegas skyline: the other evening on our walk the sky was stretched out across the city like a painted canvas. it was amazing to behold. is it montana they call "big sky country"? well, the vegas sky can paint itself a stunning scene if you ask me. 

5) mr. moneybags: jack is my sugardaddy when i need cash. he loves that i borrow money from him! i love that i can as well. he has a little job he does for our neighbor and he gets paid monthly. somehow i anticipate the need to convince him not to spend it all on legos! but it is his spending money after paying his tithing and putting some into savings. but my question is always, "how many legos do we really need?"

6) forty-two: it was my birthday and we celebrated with some especially nice gifts and a lovely dinner at my parents with just out little family of five and my parents. a calm and quiet evening. so nice at the end of a long day.

7) my hydrangea plant is still alive! my mom got it for me around christmas and i've been able to keep it in bloom and going strong. it likes my kitchen window and with it right by my kitchen sink i remember to water it. besides, it makes me so very happy when i do my dishes three times a day!

8) i've been walking in the mornings and wearing these awesome little target treasure find. these touch screen compatable gloves make it so i can use my phone while keeping my digits warm. thank you very much target for yet another things i "need."

the british are coming! the british are coming! lunch with the edgsons. . .

when rod and i were newlyweds living in vancouver, british columbia, canada on the north shore we met some of our very best friends. art and deette edgson became our fast friends. de showed me all around vancouver. we walked the sea wall most mornings together and went hunting for antiques during the days. i taught their son, nick's, seminary class. we had their daughter, shannon, come and live with us for a time when we moved back to vegas. now nick is graduated from university and in law school, married with a baby boy! and their daughter is married and developing her skills as a photographer! time has certainly flown by fast but we have kept in touch all this time and still feel like they are part of our extended family. 

art and de have just returned from an lds mission in england. they stopped by for lunch on their way to phoenix. it was such a fun reunion full of fun stories from their mission. art can tell a good story for sure! we could have listened for hours on end! 

the edgsons are some of our favorite people. de is one of the most generous and kind-hearted souls i've ever known. seeing them in person made me realize accutely how much i have missed my walks on the sea wall with de in the mornings and dinners at their dining room table. there are so many great memories with these two for us. in a year they will be heading off to new zealand on another mission for three years. we are hoping to go visit them during that time. in the meantime we hope we get more edgson time while they plant some roots in phoenix. we love the edgson family!

52:3 breakfast

each early morning at 6:00 am Sam enjoys a tall bottle of similac and rice cereal---shaken not stirred!

he downs it while i rock him. then he is a happy, smiling boy till about 8:00 am when he ventures out in his stroller on mom's morning walk. these types of mornings are only for a window of time and i want to cherish them while he is young! his happy coos and goos after a helping of morning bottle-fest are heaven.

[also see: jenn, michelle, heather, tracey, stacey, andrea, kristin, amanda, amanda, sara] 

quick trip to san clemente, ca clears the head. . .

We just had the best weekend in California! At the very last minute on Friday we decided to head down to my brother’s homes in San Clemente to play with cousins. After we got Chloe, the dog, situated in a doggie daycare place on Friday we cut loose and skipped town. I was trying to think of the last time I went out of town and realized that I hadn’t gone anywhere for a very long time. The end of last summer was the last time I ventured out of town. That was a week at the cabin to escape the heat. But then I had an increasingly difficult time being on the mountain because of the altitude making my pregnant body work extra hard to get oxygen! So my choice was stay inside an air-conditioned Vegas home and let my kids swim in the backyard more and walk my dog on the treadmill or stay in my Adirondack chair on the porch of the cabin all day and watch my kids play out front and let the dog roam the meadow. I stayed on the mountain as long as I could and eventually made my way home reluctantly. So from August to January I stayed home.

We also had a crazy holiday break. It was extra good in so many ways. With Sam’s surgery and the next week us all getting stomach flu we didn’t have a typical holiday break. We did what was most important and got to experience the real meaning of Christmas in so many tender ways. But at the beginning of this last week I knew the boys had school off on Monday and I couldn’t shake the desire to head to the coast.

Sam is two months old and doing great! I knew he would be easy enough to travel with in the car. He just sleeps the entire time. Jack and Morgan were off school and so were their cousins which meant they could spend a long weekend together. Rod was able to get off work on Monday and so we drove down to San Clemente on Friday night and returned Monday night. We always have the best time with family down in SC.

This trip we took a morning walk along the beach trail watching the trains pass by and played at the beach park. We ate yummy Indian food as adults with our children being babysat by a friend’s daughter (love that Vegas connection down in San Clemente! Thanks Sophie Zobrist!) Our boys played for hours outside with their cousins in their neighborhood. When they were asked to come in we had to direct them straight to the showers because they looked like they had rolled around in the dirt! I got a tiny bit sad at that moment—wishing my boys could play like that so much more often at our own home. My brother’s cul-de-sac and neighborhood is just so quiet and full of children! They are up against the hills on San Clemente and neighbors have built a tree swing  on one of the large live oak trees. There are twin boys who live next door to our cousins and more boys down the adjoining street. My boys were in complete heaven with Berk, Stella and Charlotte as well as the neighborhood friends playing outside all afternoon without the worry of a speeding car or the restrictions of a small backyard. Morgan came in the house just dirty everywhere. I even took photos of his face and neck to document how dirty he was. It was as if he'd been rolling in the street having the time of his life playing.

When I see how happy they are playing free like that it reminds me of my own childhood and I ache for them to have more of that in their childhood. So visiting their cousins and allowing them those freedoms is important to me. 

On Sunday we got to enjoy a fabulous Sunday School class taught by my youngest brother. He is such a great teacher! I was so impressed with his thoughts and instruction. Each of my brothers are teachers. They each are gifted with the ability to preach God’s word. And for the women’s group meeting we had a very talented convert to the church teach. She was inspiring with her words and her personal conversion story.

It is joy to sit at either of my brother’s homes and hear the children. One of my favorite people in the world was visiting my sister-in-law. Elizabeth’s sister, Traci, is just one of those people you find inspiring. She is accomplished in so many areas and has travelled the world. She teaches special needs children in high school. She has taught and directed Especially for Youth conferences (church sponsored week-long camps for teens). She lives a meaningful life—a purpose driven life. She challenges herself to experience personal growth and when she is set back a bit or discouraged she has the ability to slowly move through the discouragement but not get stuck in it. That is why I just love that woman! She was down visiting Morgan and Elizabeth so we got to spend time with her as well. It was just the added bonus. She is an example of the extra layer of the family you get to have when you get married. With my brother marrying Elizabeth we get to have Traci and her others siblings as family and their parents. Those extended family members make up a web of people we feel a strong connection to and we love to associate with them! Those same great people are in each of our brother and sister-in-laws family. 

Our little Sam did so well this trip. He is a joy to have! My favorite time is when he wakes up in the morning. He is happy and talkative. After he eats he is usually happy and interactive. He smiles often and coos and laughs. It is the best to hear and experience these stages again. I think there is nothing better for parents than to see a two-year-old baby recognize their voice and respond with joy at it. He has so many gleeful moments lately. It makes me continually grateful for modern medical procedures and medical know-how.

We took the children ice skating on Monday. I was so proud of my boys. Jack was terrified this time because he knew what it felt like to fall (last time he went he fell hard!) But he kept trying with me encouraging him and for that I was so proud of him. I know he was terrified but the only way to get over that scare is to slowly keeping at a thing till one gets it. Morgan kept his balance really well and went around the rink with his cousin Berkeley a number of times. I skated with each of the boys and my nieces and nephew. We had a short time to skate but it was just long enough considering they were all really new at it. After ice skating we were able to get lunch and return to Darren and Nikki’s home for hot tub time. The children all spent a few hours playing in the hot tub outback. I love sitting in Nikki’s family room talking and watching out back as the cousins play. Darren and Nikki have a beautiful home! It is so great to have them close to Morgan and Elizabeth. We go between the two homes with ease. Our boys get a kick out of sleeping at Aunt Nikki’s home because they sleep in a set of twin beds that my twin brother’s slept in as young boys. The headboards and footboards have labels on them with my boy’s uncles names! It is just funny to see Jack and Morgan climb in to what once was Stephen and Darren’s old furniture. It is just great when we stay there because across the hall from Jack and Morgan in Stephen and Darren’s old beds is Darren’s twins, Hank and Lily. Darren and Nikki’s babies are now almost two years old! I love that these two parents can talk “twin life” with us. I know how long some of Nikki’s days at home with the twins can get. But she is such a good mom and has handled life with two at once better than most do! I’m always amazed at her and wonder how I did it myself. I’ve forgotten much of how I did it.

Being in California with my brother’s families rejuvenates me. The beauty of California’s coastal areas makes me happy. I might be one of the only people to notice beautiful and unusual plants along the roadside as we drive around San Clemente. Coming from the desert does that to me. It means I am entertained by the variation of green alone! I was so thrilled this trip when my little Morgan was with me driving back to Darren’s home from the grocery store. We were leaving the shopping center and there was the most unusual plant in the median. Morgan chirped up and said, “Mom, just look at that unusual plant over there! Isn’t it cool?” It as unusual and I had noticed it the day before and commented on it myself. I was just proud as could be that Morgan took note of it as well. I had hoped someday a result of us traveling would be to teach my children that there are really amazing things out in the world to see. This plant was a small example of that. He gets it. I’m glad he is developing his ability to “see” new things and enjoy the discovery of them. 

I feel like I have been babbling. I am writing in such a stream of consciousness. I don’t have time to edit this. I don’t have much of a care to either. At some point I fee like just getting my thoughts on paper is most important and the roughness with which they comes is going to have to be overlooked and excused by any reader. Time moves so fast and I have resigned myself to simply write more and worry less about the construction of the writing. In Sunday school on Sunday in my brother’s lesson he talked about the importance of journals and books in perpetuating culture and knowledge from generation to generation. It will be interesting someday to see if any of my writings have any influence or affect my children’s choices. I hope something good comes of my babblings.

For now, I return to the desert renewed and happy for the time we had with family in Southern California. 

52:2 cold

this week's theme for my 52 week photography project was "cold". i ended up with a few. go ahead and pick your favorite. i'm partial to the boy and me because i want to remember these personal snapshots but for submitting to a photography group, i'd go with the blue sky, empty tree one. you?

[also see: jenn, michelle, heather, tracey, stacey, andrea, kristin, amanda, amanda, sara]

 

 

sam out takes for fun. . .

when taking photos of sam for his 2 month old photos i caught a few out takes that just make me smile! i love all his many faces.