An obsession

Nate has an unhealthy obsession with all things with a motor in it.  I guess it isn't unhealthy.  There isn't anything wrong with it.  Mike loves that he can name different brands of motorcycles.  Anything green is a "saki" (Kawasaki) and anything blue is a "amaha" (Yamaha).  He recently learned that anything red is a Honda, but we don't have one of those so it isn't part of his every other word vocabulary.

I think that it's funny that he can identify the different sound of a motorcycle engine and anything else.  We'll hear one from inside the house and I say "is that a motorcycle?  Is that daddy?"  He listens and says "no...thas 4ler".  And he's always right.

Because of this obsession, this is how we find ourselves every day...

 Jake and Allie take turns riding the motorcycle and dad takes the others on his motorcycle or the "4ler".

Nate is usually all bathed and clean and ready for bed.  He just needs his fix before he can settle in to sleep.
Unfortunately, one ride is never enough.  The minute the engine to the 4 wheeler is shut off, he is saying "how bout saki" and if he is lucky enough to get another ride on that, he says "how bout amaha?" when he arrives home from the saki ride.
Then, in the morning when I go to get him, he is already up and talking...
"Daddy?  Motorcycle?  Saki?  Ride up a hill?  Pop a wheelie? Vroom.  Derby car smash".
It never ends, and that's okay.

The other kids love it too.  Allie and I have started our hunt for caterpillars up the canyon and Jake is always begging to go find water.  The river isn't running in our neighborhood and you have to go way up the canyon to come to the one that is.  It's a sad thing for the boys who love the river.
Jason seems to love the rides, although he doesn't ask for them daily :).

We are so lucky to live where we live, and lucky to have a dad who loves toys.

Dinner time entertainment

A few weeks ago, Jake came home with this eye thing.

He taught it to Allie, and they spent the next few weeks grossing me out at every chance they could get.

Naturally, Nate had to try it too.  He gives this strained look and waits for you to tell him that he looks spooky.

You can see why I spend most of dinner time telling the kids to eat their food...

Jake's Monster Concert

Jake had his final piano concert a few weeks ago.  They call it a monster concert because three kids play on different pianos at the same time.  Jake practiced his piece over and over and had it perfect at home, then when he went to play with the others it was a nightmare.  He wasn't good at counting in his head and was only playing it well because I was over his shoulder counting it out.  Then you throw in two other kids playing to their own beats and it was a bit chaotic.

There were a few more practices and they pulled it together in the end.  It was so cute to hear them play together in the concert.

 Here are the 3 beginning students this year.

Grandma Johnson came up to hear him play.  We took her on a ride up the canyon to show her all our haunts.

Jason fell asleep on the way home.

 She read to them and showed pictures of her latest adventures to Jake and Allie.  It's always fun to have grandma come up to stay.

The end of something super cute...

You can understand why I would be sad to give up this...

Jason has loved bath time in the tummy tub.  I have loved it too.  Our favorite mornings are when he would be perched on the table as the kids ate breakfast.
Then, one day, I put him on my bedroom floor to soak while I folded laundry.  He was happy in there and I was getting things done.  He "went down for a drink" as the kids call it, and it startled him.  He flailed his arms out and I looked over just in time to see the tub tip over and he slid out like a slippery wet fish.  We cleaned up the gallon or two of water and now I know I can't leave the tub anywhere that it could tip over.
It's a good thing it's fun to watch him dance a jig in the big tub, or I'd be missing this even more than I do now.

On the verge

Allie and Jake have been trying to coax Jason into crawling.  He has finally rolled over (back to front) a few times and can get himself into crawling position.

Allie gets really upset when I tell her to knock him over.  She doesn't understand that I am only teasing and her tender heart can't take jokes like that.
I do love that Jason is progressing and learning new things, but it is hard to want to leave this wonderful state of life behind.  As it is, Jason is completely content to lay in one spot and watch the world around him.  He loves his jumperoo and loves the exersaucer.  He stays where I put him, and that helps when I am spending time and energy focused on keeping Nate alive (did I mention that he can twist door handles now?).  I know if Jason gets a taste of mobility, he'll be just like the rest of them and be addicted to going places...anywhere, as long as it's somewhere.  So I'm trying to stretch it out.  And lucky for me, Jason is still super happy to sit and watch life happen around him.  What a good boy.

My favorite part of the day...

Nap Time!

Jason's first boat ride

While we were in Orem, we were able to take a quick spin on Grandma's boat.  

Doesn't that water look yummy?

 I think all babies look pretty squished in a life jacket.  Jason didn't seem to mind much.

Then he hung out in the perfect spot for babies for a little while.  There are many pictures of sleeping babies under shady steering wheels of the different boats we have had through the years.  There's something about that motor running that just lulls them to sleep.
I think Jason enjoyed his first boat ride.  The other kids did too.  There isn't much that can top a wind in the hair, drops of cool water, sunshine on your face, bumpy ride in a boat.  We are so lucky!

10 years

My Dad has been in heaven for 10 years.  

 When he died, he only had 3 grandchildren.  Now there are 16 plus 2 bonus grandchildren who are now married and having babies of their own.
I think he'd be pretty proud of us.

The kids who were close enough, got together to visit the grave and the monument.
This is the Icelandic monument that is in Spanish Fork near the home my dad grew up in.  You couldn't have been around my dad for more than a few hours before he started spouting his pride in his Icelandic heritage.  This monument has a big plaque that lists the names of all the people who came from Iceland to make a home in Spanish Fork.  My dad's grandparents names are on that plaque.  I come from good stock (at least that's what my dad said nearly every day of my life.)

We went to a park after that and let the kids play while we talked about dad.  Jenny made a questionnaire that made us all laugh in our memories of dad.  We talked about his favorite songs and favorite sayings.  We laughed about how mentioning something like San Francisco, for example, would get dad bursting into song. "Are you going to San Francisco?"  Or mentioning England would result in "England swings like a pendulum do, Bobbies on bicycles two by two".  He had the same old jokes, or catch phrases that he'd use at restaurants or stores.  I had forgotten some of them and had fun laughing about the ones my siblings remembered.  Like when the cashier would ask "Did you find everything you needed?"  He'd say "well, I wasn't looking for everything..."
Or, when a waitress asked how he was doing, he'd say "well...things are okay...except for this sore wrist.  I've also got a sore ankle from a skiing injury that I got when I was younger.  My knees are a bit sore and I woke up with a bit of a headache..." and on and on until us kids would have liked to disappear under the table.
One of his lines was "whether a job be big or small, do it right or not at all".  Another one was when he'd ask us to list a favorite number.  I'd always say 3.  He'd say "well, mine is 9 trillion, 3 billion, 5 million...you gotta think big Sue.  You gotta think big."
He would also point to a lot and say "what does that look like to you Sue?"
I'd say "a vacant lot?"
He'd say "I see a bunch of storage units or a 4 plex.  You gotta have vision Sue.  You gotta have vision.  Some people don't have vision.  You gotta have vision."
We laughed about his attempts to speak Spanish to every Latino he met.
We joked that if he were here, he'd be even more deaf than before and speaking even louder than ever.  He'd probably be driving around the blue Thunderbird that came out just before he died.  He thought that was a beautiful car.
He'd burst with pride knowing that my brother Warren is a successful orthodontist who built his own building and has 4 beautiful kids.  They have made a great life and have a cute little family.
I think he'd love that my sister Lori's husband works for the church and gets to go into General Authority's homes to work on their appliances.  He'd love to pop in on her with her cute kids and have lunch every once in a while.
He'd get a kick out of the post office that we own and I know he'd love to watch my kids as they grow up.  I think he'd be proud of the way Mike and I live our lives.
He'd love that Jenny has some red headed kids and would be so proud of all her military accomplishments.  He'd be excited to be a great grandpa too.
He would love Alana and be so proud of Steve that his eyes would water.  He'd love that he made it through dental school and that he is a man of honor.
He would be proud of what my mom has done with all the projects that he got started and then never got to finish.  She has held our family together and helped us along the way in the things that we face.  She has put together his life history and helped to keep his memory alive for all of us and our kids.
I have said "pride" and "proud" a lot, but that's because when I picture my dad, I picture him with a big smile on his face, tears in his eyes, and so much love that he was bursting.  He was always such a prideful father and boasted of our accomplishments to anyone who would listen.  I say those words with a positive spin.  We knew we could do anything we put our minds to because mom and dad believed in us.
I am so thankful to have had my dad.  I think of him often when I think of things he'd love about this world that we live in.  I would love to have him here.  I would love to hear his wise words of advise.  I would love to get a phone call every now and then and hear him chuckle over a joke.  I would love to see the pride and joy in his eyes as he looked at his "flock" of grandchildren.  But since it can't be...I will just remind myself of the comfort I take that he has Sam, and Sam has him.  He and Sam can work together as missionaries, and help us from their side of the veil.
 So...here's to 10 years.  I don't think I could have imagined coming from the grief that June 4th 10 years ago to where I am now.  I have been crying off and on as I write this post, but I smile a lot more at his memory than cry.  What a good man to call my dad.

Grandma's House

These kids love Grandma's house.

Who needs a double stroller?

 She has a great park in the back yard with plenty of ducks to chase.

Allie wasn't in on chasing the ducks.  She was perched on the rocks waiting for the little baby ducks to trust her enough to swim up to her and let her hold them.  Her waiting was in vain and she was sad that she never got to hold them.  She did delight in every egg she found though.

I was pretty annoyed with those irresponsible mother ducks.  They laid their eggs all over the park.  You could accidentally step on one in the grass...come on mom's!  Take care of your unborn ducklings!


On another note (ha!), Allie has been asking me to get out my trumpet for a long time.  We found it in Grandma's basement and the kids had fun trying to make music.  I could still run a set of scales...even if it sounded like a dying elephant.

We had a good time at Grandma's bed and breakfast.  Thanks for having us!

Allie's last day of school

 Allie got out a day earlier than Jake.  It was fun to have her home with me one more day before life changes for us forever.  I have enjoyed having Allie with me all these years.  It seems like I have had much more time with her than I ever had with just Jake.  We love having lunch together and I will be sad to have her gone all day to 1st grade, but that's another story for another day.  Now we are just happy that she is home for the summer...

These three girls had the bus to themselves because for the last few weeks of the year they were the only kids on it for the last stop.  They got to know Lisa, the bus driver, really well and had fun with her.

Allie and Lily spent their last day of school playing "school" in our back yard.  They read to Jason and Nate in the back yard.  I loved it. 

Allie had a few cute journals that she brought home.  It was fun to see how much she improved through the year. 

 A few days before school got out, I made Allie pose in front of her cubby and with her teacher.  She loved her teacher and she loved kindergarten.  It was bitter sweet to see it end.  I am so grateful for good teachers and an amazing school. 

Jake's last day of school

Jake came home from his last day of school and went right out to play after lunch.  He and Carson had made big plans to do all sorts of fun things all summer.  He finished off his second grade year well and is really excited for third grade.  

I was proud of him for learning and growing so much.  He is excited for his third grade teacher who apparently throws crayons at kids who are misbehaving.  We'll see if that's just an urban legend next year.  If it's true, I'm afraid Jake is going to get pelted with a lot of crayons.  

A few days before Jake's school let out, we went to see him in a little program.  Remember when I said I got a phone call from his teacher about him acting out in class?  Well, it was while they were practicing for this program.  I gotta be honest, I was about to start acting out during the program and I'm an adult!  It was long.

They sang some cute songs and read little stories and poems.  I loved it, it was just really long.
It probably felt so long because the room was really hot and I was wrestling Jason.  I tend to get a little irritable when it's hot.

I did shed a few tears at the end when they sang Bruno Mars Count on Me.  Jake was looking at me with a cute little smile on his face and the lyrics really hit me.  It had been a rough few weeks and I felt like I was getting after him for every little thing.  Then as he sang the words about counting on him and knowing that he could count on me, I felt like things would all work out.  Jake is a good boy and although he can be wild and crazy and in your space sometimes, he doesn't ever try to be mean.  I hope he knows that he can count on me.  I have to discipline him because I am his parent.  I'd be doing him a disservice if I didn't.  But he can count on me to stand behind him and be there when he needs me.  And I know I can count on him to be there for me when I need him.  He's a good kid.  I'm so grateful for him.

See you later second grade!  

Yay for summer!

I was so excited for school to get out.  I realize that my reasons are totally selfish.  I was tired of getting the kids up and making it on time for the bus.  Allie and Jake were called "Mr. and Mrs. Late" by the bus driver all year long.  On the odd occasion when they were on time, she'd say "you made it Mrs. Late!"  I love that the kids had a friendly banter with the bus driver, but I am sure that it got old for the poor bus driver to watch Allie run for the bus with her shoes in hand.
The kindergartners got out a day earlier than everyone else and the bus driver told Allie that she was going to honk on her way by and wake her up so she couldn't sleep in.  Allie told her that she was going to be at the bus stop in her p.j.'s and make faces at her.
She was late, but she was able to taunt her anyway.

Another reason I am excited for summer is this...

 These kids together at lunch is one of my favorite things.  We read The Friend...the kids mess around and I say "eat! Eat! EAT!" at least a million times. 
Last summer, I felt like I was feeding two lunch crews because Nate could never wait to eat with them because he needed to nap.  Now we have a later nap schedule and things should be great.  I'm excited. 
Yay for summer!