O Christmas Tree

David's brother, Michael, was kind (and patient) enough to take a family picture AND babysit for us on the same night.  He is definitely on Santa's nice list now.  Clara didn't want to smile and Christian insisted on looking stoic, but at least no one was crying.

 A cute boy who melts my heart!

 Clara turned four a couple weeks ago.  She wanted a princess cake and David's sister Jessica gave me this idea.  Unfortunately, I couldn't find a cheap doll that was the right size, so it didn't end up the way I imagined.  David laughed when he saw the cake.  Prince Charming would not be able to reach Cinderella if she wore this dress to the ball.  Clara requested a green dress and a pink dance floor.  She was delighted with this cake, so it doesn't matter if it turned out looking goofy.

After 7 years of marriage, we finally have a Christmas tree. (and room to set it up!)  

Of course, within a few days, there were no ornaments left on the bottom half.   

Ever since I was a little girl, I have loved sitting in the dark and gazing at a lighted Christmas tree.  There is something so peaceful about it.  It's nice to be able to do that again.

An in-spire-ing view

 When we bought this house, we were excited about the large trees surrounding it.  For the past several months, we have relaxed in their shade, climbed their branches, savored their fruit, and listened to birds sing in them.  We have enjoyed looking out the window and seeing leaves, dappled with filtered sunlight and fluttering gently in the breeze.  As autumn approached and the leaves began to fall, we wondered what views our leafless trees would reveal.  This is what we discovered one evening as we walked by our front window:

 We knew our house was about a mile from the Mount Timpanogos Temple, (it takes us two minutes to drive there) but we didn't how close it really was.

We can see it in the background when we look at our Christmas tree.  It's a good reminder to keep things in perspective and remember what is really important this season.

This is the view from our rooftop.  Every time I walk by our front windows I am reminded of how near God really is.  There may be things surrounding us that obstruct our view of Him, but He is closer to us than we realize.  I am so grateful for this source of strength and assurance, no matter the season.

She can fly!

Give a girl a wand and a pair of cardboard-and-foil wings, and she becomes a real live fairy.

 

October, Part II

Updating our blog is obviously not very high on our list of things to do.  To the masses of people who have been anxiously awaiting our next blog post for the past 3 1/2 weeks: Your diligent vigil has not been in vain.  This is a once-in-a-lifetime event: two posts in one day...

I found this robe at Goodwill and knew it was made to be worn by Clara.  Inspired by Fancy Nancy, she calls it her "dressing gown." 

 Watch out!  We have a six-year-old!

Nathan was spoiled by grandparents this year.  My parents got him this science kit (consisting of wires, magnets, batteries, a little light bulb, a tiny spinning motor, and other scientific items intended for ages 8 and up).  He is definitely in little boy heaven.

Nathan also got a scooter.  Christian climbed right on and knew just what to do.

We have 25 trees in our yard.  Several of them are quite big, and one is enormous.  We raked for two hours yesterday, but 90% of the leaves have yet to fall.  As soon as we went inside, a storm came and covered our lawn with leaves again. 

Even though it was rainy, Nathan and Clara had to trick-or-treat for at least a little while.  Ponchos make great costumes.  Nathan was a blueberry and Clara was a strawberry.

October, Part I: Cousins!!!

 We spent lots of time with cousins this month.  Jessica and Brian and their kids visited early in October.  Nathan, David, and Joshua pulled down willow branches and made a tree fort.  Clara shared from her closet so she, Katie, and Sage could all wear dresses.

 We went on a trip with David's family.  (Canyonlands, Arches, and Goblin Valley) 

3 days.  25 People.  Lots of little cousins and lots of fun!  

Goblin Valley is like a big magical playground.  Just as fun for adults as it is for kids.

This arch in Canyonlands is right on the edge of a huge cliff.  The edge is literally three feet behind where we are standing in this picture.  We did not realize this until we were right there with the kids.  Yikes!  You'd think there would at least be a warning sign posted.

Lessons we learned from the trip:

1. Food and water go down very quickly when 12 children are around.

2. It CAN get colder inside your tent than it is outside.

3. Bring at least one pair of pants per child per day. (Oops!)

4. We need to do this again!

words through a locked door

This morning, Clara locked herself and Christian in my room.  For some reason she couldn't get the door unlocked.  Somewhere in this world is the key that will unlock it, but that is for the previous owner to know and me to never find out.  While she cried and rattled the doorknob, Nathan and I sat on the other side of the door and tried to explain (in 3-year-old terms) how to unlock it.  After several minutes and no success picking it with a paper clip, Nathan collected every key in the house and I started trying them in keyhole.  After that failed, Nathan (who was nearly late for school) wanted to bring up a saw from the garage and cut a hole in the door.  With that as motivation, I was finally able to explain the unlocking procedure to Clara in a way she could understand, and she freed herself from captivity.
As we drove home from Nathan's school, I reflected on the locked door incident.  I realized that we are all like the child who has locked herself in a room, and the Lord is the loving parent who wants us to come back to Him.  He knows how to unlock the door, but each of us has to unlock it for ourselves.  He waits on the other side and instructs us on how to remove the barrier that separates us from Him.  It is up to us to take His advice.  What things in my life are obstructing my relationship with the Lord?  What is He trying to tell me?  How can I be better at following His directions?   

Here are some other things we've been up to...

 Christian has started walking, and is learning more words.  He likes play peek-a-boo and wrap himself up in blankets.

One night when we went to check on the kids, we found both of their beds empty.  Then we heard snoring coming from the closet. 

We've been preparing a plot for our garden and researching fruit trees.  Can anyone recommend good varieties of peach trees, plum trees, or apple trees?  I'm looking for a really good pie apple. (tart, sweet, and doesn't turn to mush in the oven.)

A bad case of grocery-store-itis

At the grocery store today, Clara grabbed a package of spaghetti noodles and came running toward me, begging me to buy them. (She would eat spaghetti for every meal if I let her.) Anyway, she dropped the bag of noodles, and when it hit the floor it burst open, scattering noodles across the aisle. Fortunately, the only other person who saw this happen was another mom with kids, who smiled sympathetically. Just as I was gathering up the last noodles, Clara started hollering for me to look at Christian. I turned around to discover that while I had been cleaning up spaghetti, Christian had twisted around in the shopping cart seat and grabbed a can of yogurt from the basket. He had punctured the foil lid with his teeth and was sucking out yogurt like a vampire! He was covered with yogurt, and it was dribbling down the shopping cart and onto the floor. I laughed and tried to say something funny as I glanced around looking for a way to clean up. No more sympathetic smiles from nearby shoppers. They now looked at me like I was hopelessly inept and they wished we would take our mess and leave before something else ended up all over the floor. I finally found some napkins and cleaned up the yogurt.
I am not hopelessly inept, I just don't have enough hands and the eyes that were supposed to grow in the back of my head when I became a mom have not appeared yet.

Beginnings and Endings

An era has come to an end. After 6 years of classes, homework, papers, early mornings, late nights, and Saturdays spent studying, David has finished graduate school. It is a huge accomplishment and a tremendous relief. Really, there are no words to describe how it feels to no longer have this constant weight on our shoulders. (David did most of the work, but it really has been a team effort.) We couldn't have done it without constant support from our families and the Lord.

Nathan started Kindergarten at Manila Elementary. He is a very handsome Kindergartner. He seems to enjoy it so far. David also began the school year as principal of Scera Park Elementary in Orem. There will be some interesting challenges and experiences this year, but he has enjoyed most of it so far.

We enjoy walking Nathan to school. After a couple days, Clara proposed we take the double stroller so she could ride too. I have loved this opportunity to chat with the kids while getting some exercise.

It has also been fun to have a few hours a day with Clara and Christian while Nathan is at school. Clara's personality is different when Nathan is not around. I'm excited to get to know her better.

One of our last summer outings. We hiked up to Grove Creek Falls. It ended up being a much longer, harder hike than we expected. The kids were troopers. Clara almost didn't make it, but was encouraged by the prospect of a treat at the end.

We inherited a tree full of peaches when we bought this house.

A freshly picked, tree-ripened peach is just about my favorite thing in the world.

Summer Vacation & New House

Sorry we've not written for so long. Life has been a bit crazy! Over the last month we sold our house in Orem, moved all of our stuff to a storage unit and garage (Thanks Darren & LaChelle for letting us use your garage), went on a trip to Idaho (We needed to get away from the craziness of house-hunting and house-selling), moved into Mel's condo for a week (Thanks Mel and Thang!), and then bought a house in Pleasant Grove, Utah. We have been in our house in Pleasant Grove for about two weeks. We feel extremely blessed and are glad that life is starting to hold still a bit more. Also during July, David started as the principal of Scera Park Elementary in Orem, and he will be defending his doctoral dissertation on August 4th. We're excited for him to be at home a bit more. So many wonderful people have been thoughtful and caring in supporting us during the last month of blessed insanity.

Our nephew Isaac in the clover down by the pond in Sandpoint, Idaho.

Cousin Dianna and Clara being beautiful princesses in the long grass and clover in Sandpoint.

We enjoyed riding the chairlift up to the top of Schweitzer ski resort near Sandpoint.

Grandma and Grandpa Boren are troopers and the grandkids love them tons.

We loved living in this house in Orem and will miss a lot of the good people in this neighborhood. With little storage, our food storage was starting to over run our lives. We feel so blessed to have lived in such a nice place for four years.


The kids loved this tire swing in Preston, Idaho at great Grandma and Grandpa Hansen's house. We spent a day with them and drove up to Mink Creek (where Grandpa Hansen grew up). We really enjoyed all of the stories and memories that were shared.


On July 4th we went to downtown Provo to the parade and then the many displays they had there. We especially liked this display. Hmmmmm....maybe we'll have to build one of these.


We had a great time on the weekend of July 4th at Grandma and Grandpa Manwill's house. This was during the fireworks show. We had to do it early due to eminent bedtimes.


Here's a view from the back of our house in Pleasant Grove. It's not fancy (built in 1987 or 1988), but it has a lot more room than our other house. It has six bedrooms and two storage rooms for food storage (Hooray!). The lawn needs some work, as well as a few things in the house. It's on about half and acre and has some fruit trees. Once we get the inside of the house in basic order, we're hoping to put in a large garden and plant a few more fruit trees. Currently there are two cherry, one apple, one peach, and one pear. The neighborhood is really nice and is about a mile from the Timpanogos temple. We really feel blessed to be here.


This huge willow tree borders our driveway. We love the shade.


Christian enjoyed some peach/huckleberry pie made by Uncle Michael. Tasty.



Here's the kitchen.


Here's the family room off the kitchen.


Here's the living room off the front entryway.


Nathan's bedroom


Clara's bedroom


Sewing room/office


Master bedroom

We are REALLY loved!!!

I have never been a high-energy person. But I have been feeling especially tired and run-down for the past several months. Tired to the point of being unable to concentrate or remember things. I assumed this was due to the increased responsibilities of having 3 children, a busy church calling, and a husband in graduate school. In April, David and I both felt strongly prompted to speed up our plans to put our house on the market. We had been planning to do it sometime in the next year, but felt that we needed to put it up for sale within a couple weeks. So, despite struggling with lingering cold symptoms and upset stomach, I worked late nights with David to clean and stage the house for selling. Thanks to Aunt Mel, Mom, and other family members who volunteered to help clean house and watch our kids so we could accomplish this. You saved our lives, literally.
We received an offer within a couple weeks, which surprised us, especially in this market. When we got the results of our home inspection we discovered that the furnace needs to be replaced, due to a carbon monoxide leak. The CO in our home rose to dangerous levels when the furnace was running. It appears that the leak had been gradually getting worse. This explains why I have felt so awful since last fall. It also explains why we were all throwing up at the beginning and end of May, during the cold spells. We have had carbon monoxide poisoning. Fortunately, David, who has spent less time at home, has escaped relatively unaffected. It is sobering to think what might have happened, had we not spent half of our time this unseasonably cold spring either out-of-town or driving around house hunting. Had we not decided to move this year, what would have happened when we turned on the furnace next fall?
The moral of the story is, follow your inspiration. (And install a CO detector.)
I know that the Lord has guided our steps and protected us from this hidden danger. I am so grateful that we didn't all end up seriously ill, or worse. We are so blessed.

We are loved

Almost every day, I take a list of addresses, throw the kids in the car, and drive around looking for appealing houses that are for sale. Today, we packed a picnic to eat at a park somewhere in the midst of our house hunt. The kids were whining for food, so I drove up to a park in Mapleton. As I was parking, I felt that we should NOT get out of the van. So I turned around and started driving home, much to the kids' disappointment. On the way home, Christian's diaper exploded, and Clara pooped her pants. As soon as we were home, Nathan and Clara both had bad attacks of "the runs," requiring substantial clean-up. Boy am I glad this did not all happen at the park! Someone was watching out for us.
The Lord is always leaving little "love notes" around for us to find. Today I found one as I was scrubbing the bathroom floor, grateful that I was not in a filthy park restroom wondering what to do.

haircuts

The kids got their summer haircuts. Since Clara is bitterly opposed to having things put in her hair, I made it shorter so it wouldn't get as much food in it and so it would be easier to brush. I guess I'll just have to wait for my dream to be fulfilled of doing fun hairstyles on my daughter.

Christian got 3 new teeth last week. He has been a much happier boy this week.

Nathan finished preschool last week. He sang in his preschool program. So cute!!!

Nathan is glad to be done with preschool. He never really loved preschool, but it has been good for him. He has learned a lot, and not just about numbers and letters. He also learned that he wants a mohawk, like his friend on the top right. I'm hoping he'll forget about that wish.