Cameron – 2006



Eli – 2008

Simon – 2012

After the 4th of July we had a fun trip down to Utah for a Hall Family quasi-reunion.  I call it a quasi-reunion because all of the sibling group are still on speaking terms.  (Richard and I often ponder why it is that our parents siblings groups aren’t so fortunate.)

I took a whopping THREE pictures of that event.  I rely entirely on Adri, who has the nice camera, to be photographer.  Adri- even though we are on speaking terms I keep forgetting to speak to you about putting said pictures up in  Picasa album…

Here are the girls listening to Baca tell a story.  (Read: Listenting to Baca entertain them while their vacation-frazzled mothers catch their breath.)

After a significant time investment on mine and Adri’s parts, we finally settled on this condo in the Ogden canyon, which turned out to work really well for our group, and AWESOME property managers to boot!

It is so much fun watching my kids form lasting friendships with their cousins.  If you aren’t on speaking terms with any of your siblings I encourage you to reconcile.  Cousins of any age are a treasure worth having, don’t be the reason your child is deprived! 

Ahem.  Where was I?

So the trip was lovely aside from Simon getting a thrill from jumping into the swimming pool, and then doing so when there were no other people in the pool, and giving his mom quite a drowning scare. 

The day we returned from Utah we became the temporary parents of two darling little boys, Jack and Ryker.  Their parents left on a Wednesday to run a Ragnar relay in Seattle.  Feeling only slightly sorry for myself that I wasn’t included on the team, I offered to watch the boys until their parents return on Sunday evening.

Simon and Ryker were born days apart, I loved getting affection from two little boys for a few days.

Richard left Thursday to go out of town overnight, leaving me the single mother of SIX children ages seven and under.  It actually went remarkably well.  Richard came home Friday and by Saturday we were all going a little crazy.  We couldn’t leave the house because I couldn’t fit them all in the van legally.  But Sunday we braved church with the help of a babysitter, and by Sunday afternoon they all took naps and peace was restored. 

So what did I learn from this experience?  I’ve always wanted a large family, five or six kids.  I learned about something I call proactive parenting.  I anticipated every need to prevent meltdowns. I had things planned, I was ON TOP OF IT.  But is that a sustainable way of living? 

I’ve concluded I have three choices:

1. Stop with four.  No more babies.
2. Have more children and go insane.
3. Commit to being a proactive parent.  

Certainly gives me something to think about…

In ninth grade someone in my family bought the Broadway soundtrack to Les Miserables.  We listened to it all the time.  We were living in Virginia at the time and sometimes when I hear the songs I get nostalgic. 

Richard says that when we had our first “real” conversation on the phone, meaning not the first couple awkward “ask-you-out” phone conversations, I told him that Les Miserables was my favorite book.  It still is.  (If I can even say that, having only read the abridged version.)

So LAST fall when I found out that Les Mis was coming to Boise I jumped on board A.S.A.P! I bought our tickets, not even thinking to look at the BSU football schedule.  Fast forward one year and the I make the connection that our tickets to Les Mis are on the same night as the BSU v. BYU football game.  Oops. 

Richard and I love BSU.  We also love BYU.  But Richard reassured me that it wasn’t a big deal.  That was, until three days before the game/play, we were offered tickets.  After a stressful hour of trying to figure out how we could see the play another night and still go to the game, we decided to just stick with the plan, we had pretty good seats and I didn’t want to compromise my much anticipated experience.  Richard was still being a champ about it.

Then…

Then we were downtown, grabbing a bite to eat less than a block away from the stadium.  The venue for the play practically shares a parking lot with the stadium.  Blue and orange everywhere.  I could see a little disappointment in Richard’s eyes.  Heck, even I was feeling a little disappointed. 

But every minute of the play was worth it.  (Well except those few minutes of innuendo that the director threw in.)   It exceeded my expectations.  I loved it.  Richard liked it too.  It was the fulfillment of a young girl’s dream.  I could have gone back the next day and watched it all over again, hanging on every note, loving every character, tearing up in the Finale. 

Despite the fact that the play and the game ended nearly at the same time, we managed to make it home without hearing a score.  Interestingly, I was pretty sure BSU had won, but none of the fans were really acting like it. 

We got home, put on pajamas, popped popcorn and stayed up until 2am watching the most painful game ever. 

Let me be honest here and hopefully I don’t get accused of being a fair-weather fan.  But the beauty of watching your two favorite teams play is this.  It’s truly a win-win!  Whichever team wins makes me feel good.  But if you know me at all, you know that it also means feeling really sorry for the losing team. 

So technically it was a win for the Broncos.  But it was a win for the Cougars too, because it was the first time in over 20 years that BSU didn’t score an offensive touchdown on the blue turf.  And that’s no small thing. 

But, the fact is, it’s just a football game.  And my head was still in the clouds from this…

I went into Eli’s room this morning and he was standing by the wall, crying quietly.  I looked at him suspiciously (thinking he’d pooped his pants or something) and interrogated him.  When it was clear that he was emotionally distressed and not feeling ashamed or guilty, I pulled him on my lap and started asking real questions.

“I had a bad dream.” 

At this point he had been awake for a couple hours and I was thoroughly confused. 

“You mean last night?”

“Yeah.” 

It was obviously still really bothering him so I asked him to tell me about it but he refused.  Of course my imagination went wild and I became obsessed with finding out the content of his dream. I made guesses, I comforted, reassured, and tried to be gentle.  He kept saying

“The only part of the dream I remember is the part I don’t want to tell you.”  

The poor kid looked horrified.  I told him that if we talked about it he would probably feel better, and that he could probably forget about it once he told me about it.  He said

“I can’t stop thinking about it.  I want to forget it but it won’t go out of my mind” 

I told him that after we talked about it we could play a game to help him forget about it.  He still refused.  He said he knew he wouldn’t be in trouble, he felt safe talking to me; I couldn’t figure out why he was holding back.   Finally I started asking the right questions.

“Who was in the dream?”

“Our family.  Except Dad, and Cam and Si.”

“It was just me and you and Miriam?” 

“Yeah.  Dad and Cam and Si were there but they were somewhere else.  They were doing the same thing as us somewhere else.” 

“What were we doing?”

“We were looking for fruit.  For breakfast.”

“Did someone get hurt?”

“Yes.”

“Who?”

“That’s the part I don’t want to tell you.”

“Was it me?”

“Yeah.”

“Did I die?”

He nods. He’s crying by this point, which results in me crying. 

“What happened to me?”

“Misha.”

“Misha killed me?”

Nods again.

That was about all I could get out of him, but it was enough to make me feel totally awful.  I gave him big hugs and promised him Misha would never hurt me and that I planned to be alive until he had little kids to sit on my lap.  It broke my heart!

While I had my doubts about whether or not to force him to tell me, I’m glad I did because I hate to imagine it festering in his little soul.  Eli is a compassionate little guy, and I think his biggest worry was hurting my feelings by telling me that he had dreamt that I died.

These are the things about being a parent that no one could ever prepare you for. 

***This is from August of 2012. Yep. I’m all over the place.

I had heard of the Spirit of Boise Classic, where hot air balloons from all over the country come to Boise and all launch together.  I was lukewarm about wanting to go, until I got a raving review from James, who had me determined to experience it.  It was everything James said it would be. 

I dragged the kids out of bed and dressed them in layers and loaded them in the minivan. Richard had expressed a desire to get some extra sleep instead of going to the event so the kids and I headed out quietly.  

The morning was so beautiful. The balloons launch right at sunrise, so there we were with our blanket spread out on the damp grass, SURROUNDED by hot air balloons.  It was breathtaking as they filled up and rose up off the ground, every where you turned you could see a different brightly colored giant billows of fabric. 

I’m going to be bold here and say that Island Park is probably my favorite place on Earth.  I really really love it there.  It is beautiful, it is removed, it is serene, it is associated with family and friends, it is paradisiacal to me.

In August we spent a week there.  We spent the first few days with our friends the Hurds who lived by us in Kuna and moved to Island Park a couple years ago.  We went swimming, rode 4-wheelers around their cabin, watched the Olympics, and relaxed.  We also took a little trip up to a lake in Montana but apparently I forgot my camera? My pictures here are a little backwards but I’m too lazy to put them in chronological order.

We spent the second half of the week with the Bird family.  We spent a day in Yellowstone, and of course did the traditional boating and fishing.  Great Grandpa Bird is an excellent fishing mentor, and Cam and Eli “caught” their first fish.  I’m a little vague on the logistical details of said “catch.”

I feel so grateful that my kids get to spend time with their great grandparents.  Ray Bird is one in a million and having had 5 kids, 20+ grandkids, 50+ great-grandkids, and 2+ great-great grandkids, he knows his way around a toddler.

Oh yeah- this old lady can still slalom.

Getting the kids out on the tubes is totally unpredictable.  Depending on the day any particular child could be wildly excited to tube or terrifically afraid.

Miriam had a turn or two on the tubes, but much preferred the safety of Grandpa’s lap.

The epic first catch.  Look at that pride! Richard swore to me that there were fish in the creek behind the cabin, but I have spent extensive amounts of Zen time by the creek and I’d never seen one.  He rests his case.

Whether or not we have helmets on in the picture- we ALWAYS wear helments when we ride.

Waiting her turn for a zip around the cabin.

I bet you can’t imagine how cool this seven-year-old felt driving this bad boy.  It was pretty funny to watch at first, but he got the hang of it.  It was also pretty funny to watch the Hurd’s dog chase the 4-wheelers.

Richard’s allergies in Yellowstone were merciless.  I felt terrible for him.  Also, our van kept overheating, so as we spent the August day in the park, with temps reaching record highs, we had the heater on in our car.  SOooooo awesome.  Makes for good memories I guess.

Perhaps because of the unusually hot temperatures our wildlife viewing experience was nil.  Yep folks, a day in Yellowstone and we didn’t even see a buffalo.  We DID see a bald eagle on our way out of the park and that was it.  One lonely bald eagle.  But here we are waiting in anxious anticipation for Old Faithful.  That’s why she’s called Old Faithful, even when the buffalo can’t be counted on, the geiser shows up.

Those hot pots can be pretttttty stinky.

Mim wanted a picture by the “pink dirt.”  She is filthy at this point.

We are now a true American family, with a portrait at Yellowstone National Park.

Do people still read blogs?  I know that personally I’ve whittled my google reader down to a handful of blogs of people for whom reading their blog is an inferior second to spending time with them in person.  People who are either really far away (that’s you Krista, yes the Krista that lives in the neighborhood next to mine), or really clever (that’s you Mere), or have a really special place in my heart (that’s anyone who ever lived with me or Richard). 

What with Pinterest and Facebook and Instagram and all, who has time for actual blogs? Blogs require so much more effort.  Whereas, on FB you can get such an immediate and brief glimpse, and be spared the long commentary.  I used to put great effort into my posts, desiring to entertain my readers.  But it seems like now we have even lost patience with blog posts.  (Anyone else out there a skimmer, like me?)  A quick shot with abbreviated captions on Instgram gives us our fix.  Right? 

I’m not condemning these things.  Just ruminating about the evolution of social media.  I just signed up for Instgram today, and got a little giddy over it.  But because I am a devoted combination of loyal and sentimental, I will probably blog forever, just modifying my audience and motivation along the way. 

But I went ONE MONTH without a post.  That’s a record for me.  I’m going to have to attribute most of that to the sheer BUSY-ness of four kids.  But I am pleased to say, that I’ve been doing a significant amount of thinking in the last six months.  And I’m better for it.  Wish I could say I’ve been doing more reading and exercising and eating well, too.  But I can’t.  And now I’m getting distracted. 

SOoooo…. I’m going to do this catch-up Adri-style without about 70% of her wit and humor.  One long post, with commentary as I feel inspired. 

Here are some pictures (and stories) from my phone that I’m too lazy to make into their own posts.

Simon had a follow-up visit with the allergist.  No change in his anti-bodies, whatsoever.  Big disappointment, especially because he is now starting to recognize that he isn’t eating what his siblings are eating.  He points and grunts and sometimes I feel so bad for him.  But we are in the habit of avoiding all things dairy, so we’ll just keep it up and find some new treasures like soy ice cream bars and mini-pancakes made with water instead of milk.  (He LOVED those.)

Miriam has a debilitating fear of my parents elderly bassett hound, but a Boa that could probably eat her? Ain’t no thing!

I texted this picture to Richard with the following caption: Yes. She SERIOUSLY took a bite of your deodorant.  His response: Mim did? 🙂

When Cameron was younger he used to always refer to his “smart brain.” Just a three-year old’s way of talking about common sense.  So now we are always harping on the kids “Come on! Use your smart brain!”  Miriam took it to heart, and when she found the hidden bag of Cheetos (for Cameron’s field trip lunches) she used her smart brain and a pair of scissors.  No stoppin’ that girl.

In an effort to get more pictures of myself on here I took this one as I waited in the Valet parking line at the Fundsy Gala this year.   Richard and I had to drive seperately and when the guy directing traffic pointed me toward the valets I ignored him and drove around the parking lot a few times looking for a spot.  When I passed him again he approached my window and reassured me it was free.  I told him that cost wasn’t my concern, just sheer embarrassment about the state of my mom-vehicle.