All God's Creatures Got a Place in the Choir

 Okay, so it's been like 8 years since I have written on this thing. . . So why am I writing on it now? Joanne Jeffs. That's why. It's her birthday and she asked for the most ridiculous thing.

            When I asked Jo what she wanted for her birthday . . .  she said that she wanted me to “write something” for her. Write something. 

            “So Uh . . . What do you want me to write about?” I asked.

            She said, “Write about something we’ve done together.”

“Okay . . .” Seriously? What a Jo thing to ask for.

  You might think that would be an easy thing to do, right? I mean, We have done so many awesome things together. But . . .that’s exactly the problem. We have done SO many awesome things together! And we all know that I can’t make a decision to save my life! So which adventure should I choose? The Grand Canyon? That was pretty dope. Havesupai? . . . A-M-A-Z-I-N-G. Half Dome?. . . Epic. Bryce Canyon? . . . That was a total Blast . . . Dang you Jo!! . . .Couldn’t you just ask for socks or something, like a normal person? No.You couldn’t. Because that would be too easy. And then BAM! It came to me. I’m NOT going to write about one of our adventures together. No. I am going to write about why Joanne Jeff’s would ask for such a ridiculous thing for her birthday. Is it because she knows deep in her heart that I am going to be a famous writer someday? Or maybe she knows the value in owning a composition by the one and only Mary Mack? . . . Hardly. I mean,  I’m a pretty dang good writer. It's true . . . But that is NOT the reason why she would ask for such a ridiculous thing. The truth is that Jo LOVES to ask people to do hard things. She glories in it. She has a way to get people out of their comfort zones. And it’s not always comfortable. In fact . . . it can be pretty dang annoying sometimes! But I absolutely love her for it. And I know I’m not the only person who has been persuaded to do something hard and uncomfortable at Joanne’s request. 

You see, Jo has this uncanny ability to not only see the best in people but also to identify talents and abilities in them that oftentimes they don’t even know they possess. And before they know what’s happening . . .they are agreeing to use their newly discovered talent because Jo asked them to. And let’s be honest. It’s so hard to say no to Jo. She just has so much faith in your abilities!  

One of these memorable “Jo getting me to do something hard” moments happened a few years ago. Jo was the choir director and music coordinator in our ward. She had successfully gotten me to sing in a few group numbers in the past, and I might have had an occasional descant here and there . . . But this time Jo asked me if I would be willing to sing a solo entitled “For the Beauty of the Earth” for Thanksgiving. It was a beautiful song set to the melody of “Scarborough Fair.” My extremely talented friend Rebecca Lewis would be playing the violin while I sang. Immediately after Jo asked me my heart started beating fast, and the anxiety started kicking in. A solo? I love to sing, and I even have a decent singing voice, but I don’t do solos. When I was a child I had dreams of becoming an opera singer. But it didn’t take long for me to give up on that dream. I have been plagued with a debilitating performance anxiety my whole life. No matter how fabulous I sound while I’m practicing, every time I get up in front of people to sing . . . I transform into Mary the Chipmunk. My voice starts to shake so badly I can barely get through whatever song I’m singing. Yep, My place in the choir has been comfortably in the background blending with the masses. Maybe I’ll agree to do an occasional group number here and there . . . but no guarantees that the chipmunk voice won’t appear. But somehow because of Jo and her super power persuasive abilities I found myself saying yes. And for the next couple months we practiced and practiced and practiced that song. Jo had picked the perfect song for my voice, and somehow she knew that if I started so far in advance practicing that song I would be able to do it. The day of the performance I was pretty nervous. And when it was my turn to get up, I walked up to the microphone, hands clenched at my sides, I stared at a spot on the back wall, and I sang. I sang the song that I had practiced for months and could now sing in my sleep.  And guess what? Mary the Chipmunk didn’t appear. I sang with confidence, and as I matched my voice with my friend’s beautiful violin the result was absolutely beautiful. I’ll never forget that experience. It was a breakthrough for me. And I was so grateful in that moment for my friend who sees the best in me, and asks me to do hard things with total confidence that I can do them.

 As I’ve thought about Jo this week, I’ve thought about that children’s song “All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir.” One would only have to witness one of Jo’s inspired Choir programs to see how well she knows that. She invites all who are willing to come be a part of the choir. And while it’s true that we have more talent in our little ward than you could ever imagine . . . Most of us are pretty average people who somehow find ourselves singing in group numbers, attempting solos, dressing up and acting in Christmas Nativities, playing instruments, narrating scripts, and for the less musically inclined (Bill) sometimes ringing bells . . . You don’t have to be a professional musician to be in our choir. Jo will discover what your talents are and you can be sure that she’ll use them. 

And it’s no different in life. Jo is a pretty great choir director, but she’s an even better friend.  Jo sees that “All God’s Creatures Got a Place in the Choir” of life. Jo sees the beauty in people no matter who they are. She will reach out to you as a friend and invite you to hike, run, walk, be in a book club, serve someone in need, or even be part of a birthday parade. Whatever she’s doing, she’ll invite others to be a part of it. She has faith in people. She sees what they can do and encourages them to do it. Sometimes . . .  She'll even ask you to do hard things that you know you're good at but have given up on doing . . . like Writing. Because she loves you. I sure love your cheerleading guts Jo. Thanks for being such a wonderful example to me of inclusion and love, and for always pushing me.

 HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!!!!!!!   

My "Health" Hero!!!!

Well, it was Lamon's birthday yesterday . . . and that means only one thing.

That's right, I get to write an embarrassingly cheesy blog post about him. Yeah! Because we all know that next to writing embarrassing stories about myself . . . Lamon's Awesomness is my next favorite subject!

And he is Awesome. And I think that everyone that knows me knows that I know that he is Awesome. But I LOVE LOVE LOVE it when I hear that other people know he is Awesome too. Because he is MY Awesome man. In a way it's kind of like he is my claim to Awesomeness. I claim Awesomeness through association. He + Me = Awesome. Right? . . . Or something.

Anyway the last couple months have been pretty cool, because Lamon's Awesomeness has sort of been in the spotlight. In January Lamon was recognized by Intermountain Healthcare as one of 30 "Health Heroes." Lamon was invited (along with me since I'm married to Mr. Awesome) to come to a special lunch at the Marriot in Salt Lake City where each "Health Hero" was recognized with an award. I'd have to say, I was quite proud. They had a very yummy "healthy" lunch, and then after a few speeches they read each "exerpt" written in the program about each person as they came forward,  shook hands with some pretty important IHC people, and received their awards. Pretty darn cool!

And so we came home with a plaque and inflated self-esteems and that seemed to be that. But then a couple weeks later someone approached Lamon and asked if it would be okay if they spotlighted him in their IHC regional employee meeting and asked him for a picture. They forgot to ask for mine, but I heard that they did mention me when they talked about him. He + Me = Awesome. Anyway, I don't know what they said about him, but they showed a picture of Lamon with his friend Ed at the finish of Ed's first 5k after losing 180 lbs. post gastric bypass. Lamon helped Ed train for the race and we along with other PACU employees ran along with him. It was so fun! It's been pretty cool to hear people mention that they saw Lamon spotlighted in the presentation. Anyway, here is what Lamon's co-worker who nominated him wrote to get this whole thing started! :)

"LaMon is a very healthy person anyway, but he has made a significant effort to change the culture in our department to spread that healthy lifestyle to his coworkers. He bikes to and from work daily. He and his wife have allowed coworkers to borrow fitness equipment (road bikes) and have encouraged us all to be more active by signing up to run races and marathons. He encourages us to keep our bodies fit so we can care for our patients more effectively. He also encourages us to eat well and brings recipes, ideas, and resources to keep all of us healthy. LaMon is someone who can be a support system for those who are struggling. I have really appreciated LaMon's great example and encouragement as we all try to change our workplace culture to a place where a healthy lifestyle is an expectation."

I love how many times she used the word "encourage", because that is Lamon. Lamon encourages people. In my own health journey Lamon has never told me he thinks I should exercise more, or eat better. He's never suggested I do a race or diet. But the minute "I" have decided I wanted to do something and have vocalized my desires . . . he has made it his mission to help me. Whether it was my first 5k when he helped me go from "waddling" to running 3 miles continuously (which seemed so hard at the time and was), to a 10k (because the 5k was so much fun), to a half-marathon (in which he ran with me and endured verbal abuse and heard ultimatums that I would never run a marathon) to a marathon (because I have runners amnesia), to many many many more races, hikes,  . . .  bike rides. He's always been there to support me. Whether it's helping me come up with training plans, watching the kids and allowing me the time I've needed to run, driving around with the kids to meet me on long runs to cheer me on and bring me water . . . Lamon is the true definition of "support". Lamon doesn't just tell you when he sees you, "Hey, you can do it!" Lamon will help see you get there and be there cheering for you at the finish. There is nothing Lamon loves more than seeing someone triumph and reach their goal.

And that is why Lamon is so great. He is like the fittest guy I know and has done so many hard things. And yet, he cares about the 5k you are running. In fact, he thinks you are awesome for doing it and will talk about how awesome you are to others. He will get excited about that sprint tri you are doing and will help you train for it and come and cheer you on. Oh I could go on and on, but Lamon truly loves to be there during peoples health journeys. And he will "be there!" I will never forget when Lamon ran the last 10 miles of my marathon with me in street clothes because I asked him to. In his street clothes! I am pretty sure Lamon gets more pleasure out of seeing someone else triumph and finish a race than he does from racing himself. I love that about him. He is certainly my "Health" Hero!!!

He is so Awesome . . . Therefore . . . I am Awesome . . . Right? :) . . .Right!

Ada is a Funny Girl!

So yesterday I overheard Ada talking with Aunt Lizzy on the phone. It was about 10 am in the morning and Lizzy said, "What are you guys doing?"
Ada responded, ". . . Eating ice-cream!"
Then Lizzy asked, "You are eating ice-cream for breakfast?"
To which Ada responded by bursting out laughing and saying: "Ha ha. No!!! . . . Ha ha . . . We had Cake for breakfast!!"
It was so funny that when I took the phone from Ada Liz and I proceeded to laugh for a long time. It was so funny.

So then after yesterday's culinary pleasures Ada again wanted a mid morning snack of ice-cream today, and I told her, "I don't think so Ada . . . you know, ice-cream is really bad for you!"
Ada replied, "It is? . . . Then why do we eat it so much?"

Ha ha. Okay, That is a pretty fair question. I just said, "Well . . . it tastes so yummy! But it really isn't the best thing for our bodies."

Then Ada in all seriousness turned to me and said, "Mom? . . . Did God make Ice-Cream?"

Ha ha! I love her.

Blowing out Candles and the Plan of Happiness

Oh my little Tilson is getting so big! He is turning three years old in a couple weeks, and I just can't believe it.  The time has flown by!

I was actually thinking about Tilson in the middle of Sunday School today. It was about one year ago that Tilson was turning two and as we were getting ready to sing Happy Birthday to him, Lamon lit the candles and something that we had never experienced before with the older kids happened . . . Tilson freaked out. He was afraid of the candles . . . of the fire. My oldest three kids have never really been afraid of anything. It was kind of sad. Here we were trying to sing Happy Birthday, which is supposed to be fun, and Tilson was whimpering through the whole song. Then at the end of the song Lamon shoved the cake in his face saying, "Blow out the candles Tilson!" To which Tilson turned his head and scooted backwards and cried. Come on! Really? Shove the cake in his face? That is torture! So while Tilson was crying and totally afraid Lamon didn't give up. "Come on Tilson blow them out like this. . . " and he blew them out.

"Phew . . ." I thought to myself. "Thank Heavens that's over . . . poor guy. Lets cut the cake!" But no, Lamon lit the candles again. Oh boy. So then Tilson watched the candles intently as we sang again and then Lamon pushed the cake in his face again. In fear he started turning away whimpering again. I felt bad and blurted out, "Okay Daddy! That's when Dad comes to the rescue and just blows out the candles for him!" Birthdays are supposed to be fun you know and here is Tilson scared to death!!! But then Tilson suddenly got the courage to blow out the whimpiest little blow and scooted back as he did so, not knowing what would happen. And after just seeing the candle flicker a little he mustered up enough courage to blow a little harder until he finally blew one out . . . then the other. And what happened after was quite magical! He laughed, like only he can laugh, in pure joy . . . and then he wanted to do it again and again and again. Lamon kept lighting the candles . . . and he kept blowing them out while we all laughed.

 So the reason I was thinking about this during Sunday school today was because we were talking about the Pre-existence when Satan presented his own plan for mankind that would ensure everyone of God's children would make it back. Only Satan's plan removed Agency from man. Satan wasn't thinking about our progression, or to glorify God, he in his selfishness wanted all of the glory for himself.

But God's plan was different. His plan required us to come to Earth to be tried and tested. And yes, we would face opposition. At Tilson's little Birthday party I was kind of like Satan(work with me here). I know it's a far stretch.  Any way, I was like . . . "Oh no . . . it's too hard! Look at him . . . don't make him do it!" I didn't want to watch him struggle or be afraid . . . "Just blow it out for him!" I said. And we could have done that, and he probably would have calmed down, and eaten his cake. All is Well.

But Oh seeing the pure joy on that kids face after overcoming his fear and doing something hard . . .  made me think of Heavenly Fathers glorious plan. He knew that life would present trials, hard choices, heartache, all sorts of risks . . .and that it would be HARD!And it was all by divine design! He knew that through exercising our Agency and using the Atonement of our Savior Jesus Christ in our lives we could overcome all . . .  sadness, heartache, fear, and sin . . . become more like Him, and just like Tilson after blowing out his candles . . . experience Happiness unlike we could ever imagine.

How thankful I am for God's wonderful Plan of Happiness!!! :)

"Positive" Talk

So you know that phrase, "If you can't say something nice don't say it at all?" It is really a great concept and we have tried to teach that to our kids, but up to this point they haven't really caught on very well. My kids are talkers and they tend to say whatever they are thinking, which is great except when what they are thinking is mean. I don't know how many times we have told them "If you can't say something nice don't say it at all" with out a whole lot of success.

So the other day I presented a different strategy. I told the kids, "What if when you are about to say something mean (even if it's true) you say the exact opposite instead?" I know that is not a perfect idea . . . but if they are going to be impulsive talkers . . . maybe it might help them quickly change a negative thought being expressed into something positive. 

So this morning I got back from my six mile run in barely enough time to take Lamon to work. We shuffled all of the kids out the door, and got in the car . . . and as we got into the car Ada says to me with total sincerity, "Mom . . . you smell good!" Ha ha ha. 

It made me laugh so hard. Oh . . . how I love my children!

2013 Christmas Card and Letter

Merry Christmas from the Mack Family!  This year has been full of joy, fun, and a lot of work.

Our greatest gift this year came in March when our 4^th little boy/ 5^th child was born. Hunter Chase Mack is pretty much stinkin cute. His brothers and sister can’t get enough of him. Hunter is almost nine months old now. He eats like a champ and has cheeks to prove it. He is sitting up and scooting backwards, but not quite crawling yet. He giggles and laughs, and brings us a lot of joy! We love him!

Tilson has found his voice this year. He turned two years old and finally started talking. And boy does he talk!! He loves to tell jokes, tell stories, ask questions and play pretend. He loves playing house and barbies with his sister, but can also be all rough and tough with his brothers too. He is our first somewhat shy child. But at home he keeps us laughing. I love his little voice and his laugh. His laugh is so over the top you would think that he is faking, but he’s not.  I could listen to him laugh all day.  He loves to snuggle and possibly has the world’s biggest brown eyes you have ever seen and knows how to work them. J We love him!

It was a big year for Ada this year. She started Kindergarten, and has been loving it. She is probably our most social child. She always wants to be playing with a friend. And she is pretty lucky because she has about 5 girls to play with on our street! Ada is taking dance again this year and is such a cute little dancer. Ada loves to draw and color and keeps our fridge adorned with artwork. Ada is my biggest helper with the babies at home. If I ask her to help me with something I can almost always count on her saying, “Sure!” and then doing it. Oh how I appreciate that! She is so Awesome!!

Hayden is just Amazing. Literally. At school Hayden ends almost every day on “Amazing” which is the highest mark up a child can achieve. He is a smart little guy and is constantly amazing us with his self motivation. He loves school, and is an amazing reader and creative writer. He loves to write stories, and for a second grader does a pretty darn good job! Hayden started Tumbling this year and if you see him he would be more than happy to show off his nearly perfect round offs and cart wheels! Hayden continues to keep life fun at our house, and we love his guts!!

Drew turned 9 this year and is there anything that this child can’t do if he puts his mind to it? Honestly. How many 9 year olds climb to the top of Timp? Well Drew did this year along with his cousin Mack and it still just amazes me. What a stud. He also taught himself to ride a rip stick, the only one to master that skill in our family. I’m still working on getting on it without falling. Drew has continued in soccer this year and was a very impressive goalie! Drew also took swimming lessons along with Hayden and Ada and is one awesome swimmer. I have a feeling that Drew will always keep our lives full of excitement! We love him!   

Lamon started the year off with another trip to Guatemala. It was his second year going with Hirsche Smiles and he had a fabulous time. He would go every year if it wasn’t so darn expensive, but we settled on every other year! He loves it. Lamon has been hard at work. He continues to be an amazing nurse, but has also picked up some extra work in landscaping this year! J He worked very hard transforming our old fashioned yard with a crappy lawn into a beautiful masterpiece. It took all summer to finish. We are very grateful for the help he received from my brother John and some very invaluable people in our ward. By the time it was done we had perfect strangers passing in their cars rolling down their windows and congratulating him on a job well done! J I have an amazing huband!!  

I spent the year basically just loving my baby and enjoying my family. A few of my favorite highlights were:  Giving birth to a handsome little boy, running a half marathon in October with Drew joining me for the last 2+ miles, and taking Hunter to Georgia to visit my parents on their mission while Lamon played Mommy at home (Did I mention he’s amazing?)! What a stud! Even though the summer was full hard work in the yard, we managed to squeeze in some fun trips to waterparks, some camping with cousins, and a very fun road trip to Yellowstone, the Grand Tetons, Island Park, and Bear World. We had a blast! We had an awesome year. And we love this Christmas Season where we can enjoy the family we have been blest with and celebrate the life of our Savior who showed us the way and made it possible, through His Infinite Atonement, for us to return and live with Him again. Merry Christmas!!

Love,

The Macks (Lamon, Mary, Andrew, Hayden, Ada, Tilson, and Hunter)

Almost Good Enough for AFV

My kids love the show "America's Funniest Home Videos. They watch it all the time on Netflix. So for some time they have had every intention of someday winning AFV. They are always on the look out for funny videos that we might have on file somewhere. Either that or after doing something funny (which they do quite often) they will say, "Oh man! Too bad we didn't get that on video!" Then there is always the attempt to create a video on purpose that is funny . . . which never quite works out. I have tried to explain to them that it has to be unscripted. Well, we haven't had a good video yet . . . but this one is a bit of a step in the right direction. It brought a smile to my face! I guess we will just have to keep recording pointless videos until one of these days we will really catch something worthwhile. By the way . . .the noise in the background is Hunter blowing bubbles . . . Promise!! :)



My kids think I'm cool! . . . For Now . . .

Ha ha ha! How extremely embarrassing. That is proof that I really do need to actually pay attention to my blog. So here is my explanation for that interesting post. I have been so "busy" that I keep writing ideas for blog posts and save them to come back to later . . . but then I never actually come back to finish them. So I have a bunch of drafts that have words or a couple sentences to remind me of my thoughts. Somehow a draft was posted without me knowing it. Who knows how long that beauty of a post was actually published before I realized it!!! Sorry for anyone who actually read that Crypted, unfinished post that made absolutely zero sense. I mean . . . I really am losing my mind . . . but anyone who read that must have felt extremely sorry for me. Now I really need to dedicate an entire blog post to how cool I am just to build back up my self confidence!
Let's see . . . where was I wanting to go with this post I started a million years ago? Because now I need to finish it so people don't think I'm crazy!!! I think I started writing this after talking to a wise older mother in the ward who was talking to me about the importance of building and solidifying relationships with your children while they are young because the time will come when peers play a bigger role.
It really got me thinking. I know that right now besides all the times my kids think I'm the meanest mom in the world . . . they actually really think I'm cool. And I totally am cool! At least that's what I keep telling them all the time. :)
 Anyways, so the things that I had written down were just some memory reminders of recent things that the kids and I had done together that were fun and joyful and COOL! I am so in trouble when my kids ditch me for friends . . . because I will actually have to start socializing with older people. And I just don't know who would take me on in a Headband shooting contest around here!! Anyway, for my own benefit . . . and to those who read my "crazy" post, these are some of the things that the kids and I have done recently together when Dad has been at work. :O) Thank Heavens for Dad! It's a good thing the kids have Lamon as a father or else they might have no chance at normalcy in life! J/K . . .but not really.
So here is my proof to my children (in case they forget someday) that I am so totally cool (according to me).

Belly laughing
         So just to set the record straight, it is not ALWAYS laughing and singing at my house. There is actually a good share of fighting, crying, tantrums, defiance etc. that can keep my nerves on edge some nights. And that is why a long time ago I decided that no matter what kind of crazy horrible no good terrible bad day we are having at home . . . I do not want to let the kids go to bed without a little bit of silliness. That is my specialty. This idea came to me one day after a very stressful day of doing homework and trying to get kids to do things. The Mean Monster Mom had been busy all day, and I HATE it when the Mean Monster Mom is busy. So after prayers I surprised them when I made them all lay down one by one on another siblings belly and laugh and we laughed for the next 10 minutes. You know that game? It is very handy in bad mood emergencies.

Cheers
          One thing that I do a lot with the kids is make up random cheers when the situation requires it. You see, my first born has always had a bit of a hard time getting motivated to do certain things. He gets distracted or puts up a fight . . . and sometimes it feels like I am his personal cheerleader, literally. One time we had to go somewhere and it was taking Drew forever to want to get his shoes on. Instead of getting mad at him I just started chanting, "Go Drew Go Drew . . . Tie Shoe . . . Tie Shoe!!" over and over until he did it. He thought it was funny. Our favorite family cheer was created on a night that Drew was doing a homework assignment that required him to decipher which punctuation mark went at the end of each sentence (period, question mark, or exclamation point) Well he was getting frustrated and to ease his frustrations and help lighten the tense mood I began to chant, "Go Drew, Go Drew . . . It's your Birthday. It's Your Birthday???? It's Your Birthday!!!!!!" And the kids all loved this cheer. They do it all of the time. I took a video of them a while back. So here it is in all of it's silly glory:

     
Contests and Games
         I love games. I LOVE games. But I was deprived of games for a lot of years and now my kids are old enough so last year for Christmas I bought a lot and a lot of board games and we have had lots of game nights since. But I also like to make up games and contests. Obviously I can't explain all of the weird contests I come up with . . . but an example would be the day we were out playing in our front yard (which was all dirt at the time) You have to get creative in an all dirt yard (Although playing in the dirt is fun in and of itself) and Tilson came out with one of Ada's stretchy headbands and was launching it across the yard. I was pretty impressed with his launching abilities, so I challenged him to a headband shooting contest. Pretty soon all of the other children joined in. Our neighbors heard the laughing and were curious at the fun we were having and were headed on over to perhaps join us, but then Tilson accidentally shot it on the roof. By the way . . . I dominated. My headband shooting capabilities are awe inspiring. . .
         I also love relay races . . . the sillier the better. Racing while giving each other Donkey Rides, Wheelbarrow Races where one person holds another person's feet. Those games are always fun, but I love to end them by letting the kids try me. It takes one kid on each leg, but they can actually push me in a wheelbarrow race. And the other day I let Drew carry me on his back all the way from his room to mine! That kid is strong. I let Hayden try and he lasted 1 second before he collapsed underneath me! :)

Joining in the Fun
          Sometimes there are situations where the kids are driving me absolutely crazy or aren't listening and I am about to lose it and yell, but decide to trick them and join them instead.
          For example one night we were coming home from somewhere and it was late. I wanted the kids to go to bed. I told them, "I want you guys to go inside and get in the bath, get your pajamas on and go to bed. Well they didn't even make it inside. They went straight for the huge dirt mound in the front yard and started sledding down the dirt on their sleds. I was ready to rip them a new one. If I was a consistent responsible parent I would have given them a consequence for not listening. But in all honesty I stink at that. Lamon is the enforcer parent. Some times I look at what they are doing and think, "That looks like fun. It really does." And then I join them. So I did. I went dirt mound sledding for a few minutes. And I will tell you that I am much better at head band launching.
           Other times I have joined the kids instead of yelling at them have usually involved running and screaming. I never understood the thrill of this combination. You would think that the kids could get tired of this, but they never do. It is intriguing. In our house there are only two walls separating our living room kitchen and hallway. One of the kids favorite thing to do when they are little is turn on the music and run around and around and around through the living room hallway and kitchen over and over and over. Of course they yell and laugh while they do this and it can get pretty loud. Well, one day I was watching them do this wondering what the fun of it was, and then decided to join them . . . running, yelling and laughing around and around and around Ya, it really IS fun. I try to participate when the opportunity arises. But they really are outgrowing that activity.

Letting them be silly
          Maybe because I love being silly I like to watch my kids play and be silly, even if it's not really that funny. I just love to hear them laugh with each other. Someone made a comment one day about how strong my kids personalities were and asked if it was crazy at home . . . and I was like, "Oh yeah! It's never boring at our house!" I love these kids.

Songs
         I sing a lot! I am always singing around the house. And sometimes it turns silly. The other day hunter was having a hard day. He was really whiny. But like most babies he loves it when I sing kids songs. Sometimes though he only likes the song I am singing and will cry if I stop or try a different song. So I was singing, "How much is that doggy in the window" over and over and over while the kids were doing homework. If I stopped . . .crying . . . if I changed songs . . . crying. So I started to change the words. I started singing, "How much is that Ada in the window?  . . . " and kept going making up words that applied to her. The kids joined in and we made up a verse for everyone in the family. It was fun . . . and it kept Hunter entertained for a very long time! :) I think my verse went something like, "How much is that Angel Mother in the window. The one with the beautiful voice. How much is that Angel Mother in the window. I do hope that Angel Mother's for sell. I try to refer to myself as Angel Mother as much as possible. I figure if I say it enough they might believe me. While we were playing telephone the other day it was my turn to whisper and I whispered, "I am your Angel Mother, you must obey my every command." It was fun to watch their faces as they whispered it to each other.

Prayer time
          A lot of our fun comes before and after prayers. We always sing a song before we pray and who's ever day it is gets to choose the song. Well ever since Tilson decided to start talking and have a vibrant personality he objects to every song someone chooses and says, "No! I want to sing Jesus wants me for a beam!" and sometimes the kids get sick of giving in to Tilson. One time Drew was upset and I said, "Let's just sing his song first . . . and then we will sing yours. Well Drew was having a bad attitude and after doing Jesus wants me for a sunbeam (Tilson likes to sit in my lap and have me lift him up on the word beam) I had Drew come sit on my lap as we sang the song again as I attempted to lift him up on the "beam" words. We were all laughing so hard, and spent the next 15 minutes singing Jesus Wants me for a Sunbeam alternating who got to sit in my lap.
           I really do love prayer time though.  The other night after lots of silliness (silly singing etc) I had the kids sing Silent Night to Hunter and taped them. It's a glimpse of prayer time at our house. A little silly and a little sweet. . . messy room and all!

  

"Crushes"

My kids LOVE to listen to me tell stories about my childhood crushes. They just do. I don't know why, but . . . Okay I kind of know why. Crushes are fun. And when Mom sort of has a history of doing embarrassing things and just happens to have had a crush on about every boy she ever knew growing up . . . there are a lot of fun . . . and embarrassing stories to be told!!

Anyhow, I have to admit that I'm a sucker for "crush" stories myself. I keep on trying to get my kids to tell me theirs. My boys will start talking about a girl and the phrase might slip out, "So . . . you think she's cute?" or "Does she think your cute?"

I mean really, my kids are so cute! There have got to be some schoolmates that think so as well . . . and I want to find out! At least I thought I did.

So this last week Hayden came home from school one day and randomly tells me, "Rachel has a crush on me!"

"Oh really? And how do you know this Hayden?"

Hayden said, "Well . . . because she came up to me and said, 'Hayden . . . I think you are cute!'"

Well that would be a dead give away!! I thought it was kind of funny.

Then on Wednesday we were in a hurry to go somewhere, and I was trying to get Drew to listen to me and come get into the car so we wouldn't be late. He was a little distracted like he usually is, and after I yelled at him for the umpteenth time to get into the car he said, "Just a minute Mom . . . I need to get something to show you." Okay . . .

So finally he jumps in the car and hands me this folded up note. I opened it up and was quite impressed with the penmanship. It was very nice handwriting! And this is what it said,

Dear, Andrew, I love you and I think your really cute.
I think your the cutest on the entire planet and please
tell me you like me because I have a magor crush
on you. So whenever you feel lonely I am always
ther for you and don't forget that you are the 
Best and cutest boy on the PLANET!
                         love,
                             Katya 


How do you react to that one? I honestly wanted to say, "Whoa!!! I hope you told her that you aren't dating until you are sixteen!!" And then I wanted to remind him about the deal we made that if he doesn't kiss a girl until he is sixteen he will get 100 bucks. But I searched my inbox of memories for anything I had read in parenting books on how to act after a disclosure like this, and something told me not to over react. They are kids! Crushes are fun, right?

So I just replied, "Wow! . . . How did that make you feel?" To which he responded,

"It warmed my heart."

I'll have you know that I didn't laugh out loud at all during this whole exchange as he went on to tell me how she had him promise not to show the note to anyone, but . . .  he accidentally showed it to their arch enemy Aaron. After that she wouldn't talk to him for the rest of the day and kept running away from him. He felt pretty bad about that and wanted my advice on what he should do . . . Oh boy.

Things must have turned out okay because during our personal interviews last night I asked him about his friends at school, and he told me about how his best friends were Korbin and Katya. He and Katya spent their recesses on top of this bar on the playground talking. I guess Katya told Drew that her and Korbin had been together since preschool, but now she thought he was a jerk . . .

Oh my . . . Anyhow, during the interview Drew turns to me and says, "Mom? Why can't Katya and me play alone together?"

"Well Drew, we sort of have a rule that when you are playing with girls . . . it's got to be in a group."

Then he said, "Mom . . . we are just kids."

I thought to myself, "Maybe so Drew . . . but I'm not taking any chances."

I just asked him, "What do you think you would want to play with Katya if you COULD have a playdate alone together?"

"Oh I don't know . . . Girl things. I don't know. Whatever she wanted. She's the lady!"

I told him I liked that answer!:) . . .  But . . . if they had a playdate . . .  it would have to be in a group :) Anyways, I had to write about this one. This is serious business!!

Can Anyone Beat this Shopping Story? Anyone?

What is Bravery? Is Bravery fighting a charging bear? Climbing Mount Everest? Swimming with a Great White Shark? . . . Oh No. . .

Bravery is taking 5 children under the age of 9 out in public by yourself.

There have been so many times after a shopping trip gone crazy  I have thought to myself, "Wow. That was incredible. I should write about that one!" But I have refrained. I mean, We've all been there right? No need to write about it.

But seriously, yesterday takes the cake. And it is just too good of a story not to share. I'm pretty sure that my future daughters-in-law will want to hear about it some day. And whatever you do, when you read this story don't feel sorry for me! That is not the point of this story. I love my kids to pieces. And believe it or not I actually love it when embarrassing things happen to me. It makes life exciting.

Here's some preface information:
1. Lamon is at Scout Camp this week (Don't feel sorry for me). It's Lamon's 9th scout camp in a row, and I am pretty much awesome at having fun with the kids by myself while he's gone.
2. Our Honda Pilot croaked last week (Don't feel sorry for me). Lamon's Grandma let us borrow her sweet 1993 Oldsmobile to cruise around in, and I LOVE the smell of old cars! It's heavenly.

So with that, here we go.

Up until yesterday the week had gone great. I successfully loaded all five children into the ancient oldsmobile each day to go to swimming lessons without a hitch. Probably not the safest car situation with a couple kids up front, but each kid had their own seat belt and I taught them how to look out for policemen etc. :) Just kidding (sort of). Don't worry. We only drove this way to swimming lessons and back. We've just been chilling at and around home.

Well yesterday the kids were having fun running around with neighbors etc. and I noticed that the boys were running around outside without their shoes on in 100+ degree weather.  I told them they needed to get their shoes on. Well I guess Hayden had somehow lost his flip flops at a recent campout, and when I told him to get his tennis shoes on he said, "I can't. Look." And when I looked at them I saw that his tennis shoes had literally fallen apart. There were holes all over in the bottoms of them . . . it was bad. He needed new shoes. It was an emergency (sort of).

So I loaded all of the kids in the hot car, and we drove over to Ross. My plan was to hit Ross, and if we didn't find anything there go to Old Navy and finally to TJ Max.

We got to Ross, and when I went to get the kids out of the car I noticed that Drew and Hayden were both barefoot. Sweet. I did not want to go all the way home so I just had them hurry out of the car. We were going to make this speedy. So with Hunters car seat in one arm, I held Tilson's hand, as we all walked in . . . Ada with her out of control hair, and two barefooted boys. We looked good . . . :)

Hayden found a pair of shoes he kind of liked at Ross, but I am so cheap and I thought we could do better. So I said, "Let's go to these other two stores first, and if we don't find anything we will come back and buy these okay?"

Mistake. After Ross our trailer park looking family headed over to Old Navy where we didn't find any shoes, but we were fortunate enough to run into people we knew. Perfect! Just what you want to have happen in an instance like this. And it just happened to be one of the cutest, coolest moms in our neighborhood. Ya she was there with her four kids all looking cute, and all I could say was( as Tilson was running off somewhere), "Ha ha. Ya . . . my kids are barefoot." Or something awesome like that. Anyhow, don't worry. We did locate Tilson and headed to TJ Max.

Just for the record. Holding a baby in a car seat for this long is very tiring.

Anyways, TJ Max did not have anything, so we decided to go back to Ross for the first pair of shoes. On the way out the door Tilson came completely unglued. He apparently was upset because he wanted to open the door and one of the other kids opened it . . .so he threw a huge tantrum. Tears, screaming, fighting, It took some effort to get him out of the store. But we did. So there we were. I was carrying Hunter's car seat in one arm and a screaming kicking Tilson in the other arm and we headed back towards the car with two barefooted boys and Ada. As we passed Old Navy I was just waiting to see my beautiful neighbor walk out of the store and view the spectacle, but thankfully she didn't.

Somehow miraculously we calmed Tilson down enough to go into Ross and attempt to purchase some shoes for Hayden. I wanted to make it as quick as possible before any more tantrums erupted, so I had Hayden go get the shoes while we got in line. Well we waited for a long time, and no Hayden. Finally we had to go looking for him. When we finally found him he was with a store manager balling his eyes out. Great! The store manager apologized to me and said, "I'm sorry. I think I scared him. I just asked him what he was doing in the store without shoes on." Oh boy.

I picked up the shoes we were going to buy and said, "Ya . . .Sorry. That's why we're here." He looked at us so pathetically, I began to wonder what devastating circumstance he was imagining we were in. Anyways, Hayden was so embarrassed he actually climbed into the tiny cart with Tilson and put his head down the rest of the time. Well with three kids crammed into that tiny cart, after buying the shoes I decided that I was going to take the cart with the kids crammed in it out to the parking lot. I didn't want to unload all of the kids and risk another tantrum. So I headed for the door. I was at the door and there were like three people behind me who it seemed simultaneously began to tell me that I could not take the cart outside.

I am not a rebellious person usually, but after this whole shopping ordeal I silently said to myself, "Oh ya? Watch me!" And I started out the door. I was pushing hard on the cart trying to get through the door but I couldn't. I looked up and realized that there was a pole sticking out of the cart preventing us from going through. It was then that I saw the store manager standing there (the one that scared Hayden and thought we were destitute) and he said, "No really. You CAN'T take those carts outside."  Ha ha. Oh I can't stop laughing about that part. It was epic.

So with many people watching us now, I unloaded children out of the cart and walked outside to load the kids into the sweet oldsmobile. I unlocked it, helped get children's seatbelts on and then went to start the car. I stuck my hand in my pocket and . . . no keys. Oh no. I looked back at the sweaty kids and said, "Guys. I lost the keys." I started looking all over and I couldn't find them. It was not a fun moment. Then after what seemed like forever I finally found them tucked away in Hunter's car seat. Yeah! Things are looking up. I took the keys and got into the drivers seat, put the key in the ignition and then . . . the car wouldn't start. Really? I think I actually started laughing at this point.

"Okay everybody, let's get out of the car. We need to go back in the store and borrow a phone." You see . . . fate have it, I had forgotten my cell phone. So yes, I unloaded my five children and actually went back into Ross. All except Hayden who was actually so embarrassed he just stood outside the entrance door while I borrowed the store manager's (the one who scared Hayden and thought we were destitute) cell phone. I called my mother-in-law and when she picked up I actually started to cry and asked her if she would come save us. And now for a confession. I am pretty sure that I wasn't crying at all over what had happened, I am 99.9 percent sure that I was crying because I was absolutely certain that the store manager at Ross thought that we were homeless. Ha ha! That my folks is PRIDE and I have it in spades.

Anyway, as we sat in the sun and waited for Grandma to arrive I decided to try to start the car one last time and it started! Yeah. My mother-in-law pulled up along side us and rolled down her window and asked, "How are you doing?" I rolled my window down and said, "We're great!" And then we drove off into the sunset. It was perfect.

I honestly cannot stop laughing every time I picture myself trying to get that cart out of the store! "No really. You CAN'T take those carts outside." Ha ha. Oh . . . I love it.

Good thing I am so BRAVE and I love my kids so much. The ordeal didn't keep me from loading them up today and taking them to Despicable Me 2. Only this time we went in Grandma's Suburban! Thanks Mom! :)

Oh this is already one of my favorite memories. And now Hayden has some pretty sweet shoes!

What to get a hard working Dad . . .

So I mentioned that my Father's Day gift was an epic failure. But I really did have good intentions.

Lamon has been working in the yard a lot lately, and one night while I was helping him get some of the hedge out I noticed that his work gloves had holes in the fingers. I thought to myself, "I am going to surprise Lamon with some new work gloves for Father's Day!"

I was so excited about this idea because I am usually pretty terrible at the surprise gift giving thing.

So I got on Amazon and found some gloves with great reviews and put them in my cart along with another cheaper pair just in case. I bought them and boom, my father's day gift was on it's way and he didn't have the slightest clue!

Well the day they were to arrive Lamon and I were in the front yard and suddenly Lamon looked down at his gloves (with the finger holes newly repaired with duck tape) and he said, "These are the best gloves in the whole world!"

"Really?"

"Ya. I just love these gloves." He then began to tell me where he got them and just how great they were, and I knew then and there that my great idea wasn't so great after all.

But it would get worse.

The package finally arrived, and I intercepted it before Lamon could open it. When he left for work I decided to open it up and check it out. I mean, maybe the gloves would be so amazing that he would just be blown away that he ever thought his current gloves were so fantastic. So what did I find?

The first pair (the more expensive ones with great reviews) were totally flimsy and were a size medium and barely fit ME. Great. On to the second pair. And the second pair? They were a Women's extra small, and I couldn't even get them on my hands. Awesome! Lamon just happened to come home early from work and saw my awesome gifts before I could return the evidence. As he was looking at the size medium pathetic gloves I told him that he had better return them, and that he should love me for the thought anyways. And he said, "No . . . I think I want to keep these." Ha ha. I love you Lamon.

So what do you get a hard working father?

Women's size extra small gardening gloves. You can't go wrong.

Never too tired to be a Dad!!

It's been a while since I have posted on our blog. It's about time I forget about the daunting task of updating the last year of our lives and just jump in and start writing about the here and now. And there isn't a better subject to blog about than Lamon! In fact, there isn't a better day than Father's Day to write a huge long post about how awesome my husband is.

The truth is I really need to do an excellent job bragging about Lamon right now. . . because my Father's Day gift was a real bust . . . but I will get to that later.

First I want to point out the obvious. Lamon is AMAZING. But everyone already knows that don't they . . . so let's get specific shall we?

There are so many things that make Lamon such an amazing Dad, but one of the things I appreciate most about Lamon is the way he teaches our children to work.

Lamon teaches them to work by example and by working along side them.

The other day I was sitting inside nursing the baby while watching Lamon work hard through the front window. He was using the pick ax to cut up a humongous gargantuan root in our front yard, and he was looking mighty fine while doing so. I'm not kidding either. I even called him on his cell phone from inside and said, "Uh . . . your hot." He looked up towards the window with that "Oh boy Mary. You are ridiculous" look, and just shook his head and put the phone back in his pocket.

But seriously,  I think I have mentioned before how men are most attractive while doing certain activities, working being among them. Spending time with kids is of course on that list too, and at that particular moment Lamon was doing both. So pretty much he was extremely attractive and I had to get the camera out to take some pictures. While I was admiring Lamons muscles Hayden suddenly jumped in front of me and said, "You think Daddy is strong, check out these . . . " And then he flexed his muscles for me. Ha ha! Funny kid.

So here are the pics I took.

Warning: looking at these photos of Lamon may cause heart palpitations.

I love that he likes to have the kids around him while he works. He really does take the time to show them how to do things. I have no doubt that when they leave our home they will know how to work hard and do things for themselves thanks to Lamon. He was showing Drew how to make pancakes the other day while I was . . .  feeding the baby . . .  (that's what I do lately), and I yelled from the living room, "Wow Drew, Now you know more than Mommy did when she got married! . . . I remember when Daddy taught ME how to make pancakes!" That got him laughing pretty hard.

Perhaps the events of Friday and Saturday can explain what I'm talking about better. On Friday Lamon worked an 18 hour shift. He left at 10:30 in the morning on Friday and got back on Saturday morning at about 7 o'clock. Most men after an 18 hour shift would reasonably sleep throughout the entire next day, but Lamon didn't do that. Instead he took all of us to the Park for the Orem Rotary Breakfast. Then after breakfast he came home and helped me get the kids going on their chores and then went and helped a friend retrieve a tiller and till in his yard. After that he came home and started working intensly on our yard for the rest of the afternoon until he took us all to the parade. After the parade we all went to have icecream at our cousins house, and then Lamon took Andrew, Hayden, Ada, and Tilson to see the fireworks while I . . . fed the baby . . . and put him to bed. When they all got home Hayden was in hysterics. He was throwing a huge tantrum and calling Daddy the meanest Daddy ever etc. The tantrum was lasting forever . . . and finally I came into his room and asked Hayden why on Earth he thought Dad was the worst Dad ever, because I was pretty sure that he was the best Dad ever. So then Hayden proceeded to tell me that he was the worst Dad ever because he didn't pay for him to have a $4 dollar sword at the carnival.

Explanations of why a $4 dollar sword at a carnival was an absolutely ridiculous purchase wasn't really going to help at this point so I just said,

"Really? Hmmmm. Okay Hayden. So Daddy didn't buy you sword? That stinks. But lets think of all of the things that Daddy DID do today. After each thing I asked, "You didn't like that so much?" . . . "I bet you didn't like it when Daddy did _______?" The evidence was there. I finally said, "Guess what you guys? Did you know that Daddy worked ALL day on Friday and ALL night long until the morning time? He didn't even sleep. Did he come home and go to sleep for the rest of the day? . . . He could have. I was going to let him. But you know what? When I went to wake him up to tell him we were going to the park for breakfast do you know what he said? . . .  He said, 'But what if I want to come too?'  Our tired Daddy got up after sleeping for like half and hour and spent the rest of the day spending time with us. That isn't my idea of a bad Daddy.

Of course that worked and Hayden completely stopped his tantrum. Ha ha. Just kidding. Not really. But when he woke up in the morning he walked right up to Lamon and apologized and thanked him for all of the things he had done on Saturday after not sleeping for two whole days. He also went on to tell him that he wanted to be exactly like him when he grew up exept for one thing.
We asked, "Oh ya? What's that Hayden?"
"I don't want to be bald"
We started laughing at that and then Hayden said, "Well there is one way that I might want to be bald and that is . . . if I had head lice."
Oh boy he makes me laugh.
But honestly we really do have the best Daddy ever. He is never too tired to be a Dad!

Catch up- The Grand Canyon

So the last thing I documented on this blog was that I was pregnant. Wow. That was FOREVER ago! I mean . . . I'm still pregnant . . . but some very fun things have happened since then! So I will just start with one of the GRANDEST.

Before I found out I was pregnant Lamon and I had planned with some friends to hike the Grand Canyon from Rim to Rim in one day. It is a pretty intense 24 mile hike. And I just figured, "Hey . . . I will only be 11 or 12 weeks pregnant in September when we go . . . I should be fine." And I totally planned on doing it. And when I was about 7 weeks pregnant I went on a really hard training run on part of the Timp Trail Marathon course. It was pretty hard but I survived (barely).  I felt proud of myself and was pretty encouraged that I just might be able to pull it off.

Ha ha. Darn Pregnancy Amnesia!! A lot of sickness happens after you are seven weeks pregnant. And oh was I sick! But I kept running and kept hoping that I would be ready to do the Grand Canyon despite. Well about a week before we were supposed to go I went on a very short run and had to stop in the middle of it because I was dry heaving. I came home and told Lamon, "I don't think I can do this."
I mean seriously, if I can't make it through a two mile run without throwing up . . . what is 24 miles in the Grand Canyon going to be like? I had to be honest with myself.

I still wanted to go though. I didn't want to miss out on the Grand Canyon! So we decided that I would drop them off at the North Rim at 6 in the morning and then I would drive the five hours around to the South Rim and hike down and meet them half way up. That way I could still get a good hike in and enjoy the Grand Canyon too! And so that is what I did.

And can I just say that the drive was intense. I have never seen so many deer in my life! I had to maneuver around 7 different deer that were in the middle of the road. And that was just the ones "in" the road. Who knows how many were out there. But I made it to the South Rim without hitting a deer or totaling our friends van which was absolutely fabulous.

I got to the South Rim around 11:00 and promptly started down. I ran the entire 4 miles down and was feeling pretty good about myself. I was wondering, "Could I have done the whole thing . . .? " I made it to Indian Gardens with time to spare. I ended up waiting about an hour for them to get there. And when they met up with me Lamon said, "Hey, do you want to go out to that lookout." It was about a three mile round trip diversion. He wanted me to be able to see the river. I said, "Sure." So we jogged out to the lookout and back and then started the hike back up. And . . .  remember me saying how I wondered on the way down if I might have possibly been able to do the whole thing? . . . Ya . . . my answer came on the way back up!

 In order to do an intense endurance hike like that you have to eat. And I could not eat! I was feeling so sick. I was so nauseated and I could not choke down anything. It seemed like that four miles up the canyon would NEVER end. Boy was I glad I didn't try to do the entire thing! But I will someday! I made them all promise me that we would all go back when I wasn't with child and out of shape so I could conquer it.

But hey, I'm still going to say that I am tough for the 11 miles of sweat I put in at the Grand Canyon. And oh . . . how amazing and indescribably beautiful it was! It was so spectacular. And we couldn't have gone with more fun or tough people. I am still amazed that they did that! Amazing. It was such a fun trip. It was definitely one of the highlights of the year!