Cousins

We're so glad Emily and her kids Caleb, Daisy, and Johnny made it up to Ogden during their visit from their new home in the Washington D.C. area. Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup brought Benjamin up also, and the big boys had a great time together. So did Sarah, Daisy, and Johnny, as you can tell by the smiles in these pictures. Wish Emily Joy and Grandma and Grandpa were in the pictures too, but we're glad we took the time to capture these cute cousins together to remember until next time we get to see them.

Sarah's 4th Birthday

Now that July is almost over, it's probably time to post some pictures of Sarah's birthday, which was May 27th. I feel like her birthday kicked off summer. We had a fun campout at (great) Grandma and Grandpa Holdaway's cabin, which is at Wild Wood in Provo Canyon. This was our first night in the tent we received for Christmas a year and a half ago! The kids all loved it--even Lucy in her basket. Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup were amazing sports to pitch a tent and stay there with us. We loved the time to escape from busy life and play together, especially time to focus on Sarah. She requested cupcakes with chocolate curls, which she learned to make from a Better Homes and Gardens tutorial on my Nook. The chocolate marscarpone cupcake recipe she requested from watching an episode of Everyday Italian with me. Our chocolate curl making barely resembled the tutorial, but we had a lot of fun. Give us three giant bars of chocolate, a couple of rusty vegetable peelers, and several energetic helpers and we'll eventually get a little pile of usable curls along with a very big mess. Sarah got a rather lame scooter that I thought would be cool, and a simple karaoke machine from Grandma and Grandpa Dastrup that was a big hit. We had a campfire and listened to her sing many Scripture Scout songs into the mic. We stayed with Grandma and Grandpa Thompson for a couple of days too and got to have Sunday dinner with them--nothing special for everyone else because they gather every Sunday for dinner, but it's always special for us when we get to be there. Sarah received a fun surprise--William's old bicycle, all washed and looking brand new. We added training wheels and she is having a ball biking with the two little neighbor boys and her big brother in our cul-de-sac. We sure love our little Sarah. She entered the world with those big, round eyes, the first thing we noticed about her. Travis was sure something was wrong, but they're just an adorable part of our happy little girl. She has brought us nothing but joy since she joined our family. 

Anna's 6th Grade Graduation

This was the last day of third grade for Michael and Sixth Grade Graduation at Uintah Elementary for Anna. Anna really had a nice school year. It was her fifth elementary school, so she was starting over yet again with a new school and new peers who had known each other for many years. I'm pleased that her teacher recognized that Anna would benefit from some extra experiences like being a peer leader, and Anna has done good work this year as she has participated in all of the big sixth grade projects and events. She gave a great 1 hour oral report about Russia (which was a huge stress at the end of my pregnancy). She won second place in the Northern Utah Region in the math/physics division of the junior science fair (Yes, her dad helped a lot with her project involving how many units of pi you need to most accurately measure the volume of a ping pong ball or something like that--it was a bit beyond me--but she learned a ton of math doing it and I'm grateful to have a husband to whom I can say Not It! when it comes to science fairs). Some phenomenal women in our community help the sixth grade, which is four classes, put on two Shakespeare plays each spring. They go all out with incredible costumes and sets, and it was a really fun experience for her to be a peaseblossom in A Midsummer Night's Dream. She was also surprised at graduation when she won the Hope of America Award. I'm pleased that her teacher recognized early in the school year what a great girl she is and chose her to be a peer leader all year. Sixth grade is a year that's different. Even if sixth grade is in elementary school instead of a middle school, the kids are growing up and changing so fast. Being young and naive and just growing up myself, I thought all of the wackiness of 6th grade was due to Utah because I moved from NY to UT right before 6th grade. Eventually I realized that many of the differences between 5th and 6th grades would have been apparent anywhere. I'm so proud of Anna and so pleased with the way she is navigating herself. She strives so hard to be kind and honest. She really stepped up and learned how to help in a meaningful way during my pregnancy with Lucy. She has made herself and Michael lunches every morning, has gotten Michael up and walked to school with him, has gotten herself to an early-morning choir practice each Wednesday, and for several months she's been waking herself up early to practice her violin by herself each morning. 

I admit to a couple of tears during the schmaltzy graduation (It was awesome. They couldn't have possibly crammed anymore schmaltz in, and Mom Dastrup and I enjoyed it all.). I remember how stunned and conflicted I felt as I stood with the other parents at the medical center nursery school in Manhattan on Anna's first day of  nursery school. We were still facing so much school ourselves, so thinking of my daughter having to start something that felt like it had no end (school and then the real life beyond) was hard. I couldn't be more pleased with how she's doing and the great example she is to her younger brother and sisters. We just love this girl!

Early Summer Sunday

As everyone knows, it's so hard to get a good picture of everyone together. I mean the kids, I don't even let myself dream about a family snapshot. With the rush of getting to church a little early to play prelude for RS (a dream calling that I'm very grateful for right now), it's hard to move that ready time up by a few minutes once or twice a year to capture the effort of everyone in Sunday dress. I like to look at these pictures and change the memory in my mind to one where I'm not yelling at everyone to hurry and sit down and Smile! Someone has to make Michael laugh for real so that he doesn't look like a chipmunk, and Sarah is as photogenic as they come if she'll just look at the camera. But that's all forgotten. In my substitute memory of these photos, we were relaxing in the backyard, having just finished a picnic lunch. Everyone has been ready for church for hours, scriptures in hand, shoes on feet. We've been laughing and enjoying the wonderful food that magic fairies made, so the kitchen is sparkling, and no one spilled on their white Sunday shirt or cardigan, and the shirt Emily ironed for herself didn't get all wrinkled and spotted by nursing Lucy just once. I'm so glad I captured this happy memory. 

Hogle Zoo

I realized this is the first time I went someplace like the zoo (not to a school event, a ballgame, a music lesson, the grocery store, or shopping) with all four kids. We had a great time and it was nice and quiet, which is the only way I like to do zoos. It could only have been improved by having Travis with us. I just wish the Hogle Zoo were closer. It's quite an event to get there.

Our Little Baby Doll Lucy at 4 Months

Lucy's Baby Blessing

Travis blessed Lucy Margaret in the Meadows Ward on March 4 when she was two and a half months old. Her blessing was very tender. My babies' blessings are always emotional for me, and I can't hide these emotions because I'm such a weeper. I have a repeat of the feelings that I have when I'm in the hospital during delivery. (Before delivery. There's always some point where I start bawling because I realize that my pregnancy is finally going to end. Obviously I have epidurals so a horrible labor is not the climax like it is for some people). While I'm holding my little baby on the day of their blessing, I feel overwhelmed with these same feelings of We did it! Both of us made it, and that increases my gratitude. I'm also weepy during my babies' blessings because I'm overwhelmed with gratitude for the help that we receive during my pregnancies, both temporal and spiritual. We receive so many kindnesses and so much service from family and friends. And spiritually I receive an abundance of help, though it doesn't feel like I'm bouncing along on a cloud. I feel so close to my grandmothers (including Travis's) and my female ancestors during my pregnancies. This help was greatest during my pregnancies with Anna and Michael, when my need was the greatest, but also ever-present with Sarah and Lucy. I know that they are pulling for me, that they're invested in my success, and in getting these spirits down to earth when they're supposed to be here. Many of these feelings are ineffable, as the teachings of the Spirit so often are. We're so grateful to have our little Lucy here, and to share her blessing day with our family. Once again our photos will not document who was here, but I'll remember, and I'm so grateful Lucy already has so many people who love her.