Happy (late) Birthday Hyrum!

I thought about Hyrum's birth day for nearly a week. That rough pregnancy together, his labor and delivery, our first glimpses of each other, his newborn smell and cry, spending every night for the next 2 months sleeping on the couch with him on my chest, swaddling him, cuddling together trying to hide from the rest of the world as I attempted to hold onto the peace that emanated from him, the hardships surrounding his birth and the joy that came from it.

Hyrum's birthday was 2 weeks ago and other than the week long trip down my memory lane, we didn't do much. LeRoy and I realized about 6pm that we didn't even get him a birthday present. On his way home LeRoy picked up a birthday balloon for him, at my suggestion. Since he loves balloons I figured that was a good idea, even though I didn't even go to the effort to pick it up. Uh, yeah, he looks thrilled with his balloon!

You can see the concentration and intense effort going into opening his gift from Grandma.

He loves his book!

I gave my little boy a pink cake, and didn't even bother taking a picture of it. There was good reason for the pink cake (Nathan's help) but no excuse for lack of pictures. Hyrum's part of the cake was frosted with chocolate frosting for ultimate 1st birthday mess. What was I thinking? On his first birthday I present him with enough sugar to kill a small elephant, especially one who has never had sugar. Luckily, he only used the frosting for body paint and ate so little of the cake that it wasn't really worth making. Of course, his happy mess what worth witnessing so a little sugar couldn't have been all bad.

I love Hyrum!

I love his name

I love the way he jumps up and down in his bed in excitement when I walk into his room

I love his toothy smile that brightens up his eyes

I love his excitement for little things, like splashing in dripping water

I love the way he leans his head into me signalling his desire for more hugs

I love his chubby arms and thighs

I love his little pinky finger that has no fingernail

I love his enjoyment of books, both for eating and reading

I love the sky blue color of his eyes and his outie belly button

I love the way he throws his head back when he laughs

I love the way he emphatically throws his food on the floor when he is done eating, even though it makes a big mess

I love his orange food face, proof of his love of minetrone soup, lasagna, and spaghetti

I love the way he covers his head with his blanket and giggles when I put him in bed

I love the times that he lets me hold him for his bottle, setting his independence aside just for a moment

I love the way he sticks his lower lip out and whimpers, squeezing out alligator tears, when he doesn't get his own way

I love how he pulls his socks off with his teeth

I love my baby Hyrum!

Joy and Sorrow

The past three days I have watched Levi feel, see and share more emotion and spiritual growth than ever before in his short 17 years. Watching him develop through these rather grown up experiences has left me in awe at the wonderful spirit that he is. Truly a choice son of God.

JOY . . . and my sorrow

Monday evening he picked up the missionaries serving in our area and went with them to two appointments. They weren't just member families that were being encouraged to share the gospel with others, both appointments were with investigating families and one of the individuals they taught is being baptized on Friday. As we had family home evening at home without him it seemed so odd. We are used to having extras at family home evening, usually Levi's friends. I was a little choked up as Derek said the opening prayer for family home evening and blessed Levi that he would be safe while out with the missionaries. It won't be too much longer (ok, 2 years, but that seems like such a short time!) before he is actually on a mission and that prayer will be offered daily.

When he returned home his countenance was different. He left as a teenager and returned as a witness of Christ having shared his testimony with someone gaining their own testimony. The influence of the Elders, the Priesthood, and the Holy Ghost had all left it's mark on him as truth was testified. He seemed to just float through the room as he came to give me a hug. My little boy had the presence of royalty, a worthy son of God. My heart was bursting with joy to see him through spiritual eyes, yet my heart had pangs of sadness admitting that he will in fact leave home, go on a mission, marry, and live a full life without checking in with me every night to give me a hug and tell me he loves me.

Tuesday morning he had come down from his missionary high a bit, spiked his hair before school and resumed his teenager life but I have no doubt that when he questions whether or not to serve a mission it will be moments like these will make that decision easier.

SORROW . . . and eternal joy

Tuesday afternoon came with a new lesson. Levi spent the evening lending support to a close friend as she and her family gathered with family and friends to let their 15 year old son and brother pass from the pains of this life. Brayden wasn't just Caytlyn's brother, but a good friend of Levi's as well. They have joked around, watched movies, eaten meals, and had family time together.

The evening was light hearted, full of home videos, jokes and stories but with the underlying knowledge that this was the end of Brayden's journey here on earth. Levi came home late and we sat talking for a while with the rest of the house sound asleep.

Wednesday morning started like any other: gearing up for school, work and another day, but Levi had left his backpack in Caytlyn's car. He drove to her house to get it and called me minutes later wondering if he could skip school and stay with the family. They once again had close friends around them and it was clear that Brayden would not make it through the day.

Levi came home around 3:00 to switch vehicles with me and tried to sneak in the door without being noticed. I was watching for him so I followed him down to his room. He was already in tears as he turned to me in a hug and just wept. Sitting on the floor, I held my son longer today than I have since he was probably six. He was overflowing with emotion having witnessed a friend leave this life, struggling for breathe as his very weak body let go of the fight. As I listened to Levi express his intimate thoughts I realized that what he experienced today was a better lesson on the plan of salvation and eternal families than any lessons he has heard in primary, seminary, or family home evening. He witnessed a close family sharing their love and saying goodbye with the firm assurance that it is only a temporary goodbye and then sharing their tears with them as they felt their loss even having that firm testimony in God's plan. So much sorrow for today, so much joy for eternity.

I received the call earlier in the day that my Grandma had also passed away this morning. It wouldn't have been such a surprise a few months ago when she was in the hospital but today it completely caught me off guard. I cried mostly for my mom. I couldn't help but be a little happy for Grandma, she gets to be with Grandpa! Once again I thought of the sorrow in this day, but the joy that comes eternally.

Picky Eaters

Nathan feels that he needs to choose his own breakfast

and have it presented the way he chooses

and even if there is sugary cold cereal on the table it is not guaranteed that he will eat it. He may be in the mood for peas, even for breakfast.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Hyrum rarely puts up with cold cereal and has to be in the right mood to nibble french toast or pancakes before tossing it all to the floor.

His absolute favorite (eat it every day kind of favorite) is minestrone soup. Actually any kind of beans will do: garbanzo, green, black, pinto, white - and his follow up favorites are carrots and potatoes. Unlike Nathan, he refuses peas!

Ahhh, soup! Mmmm, Mmmm Good!

In the yellow pages . . .

One of LeRoy's mission companions called today (he also lives in Rexburg) and teased LeRoy about being a chiropractor. We were a bit confused until he told us to look in the Madison phone book yellow pages. Sure enough, there we are.

So if electrical work doesn't pick up soon around here . . .

We have been very concerned about work since it started to really slow down last November. We currently have no jobs lined up, all the contractors that we have worked with are out of work as well and most of them have filed for seasonal unemployment. We have also had to lay off 3 of our 4 guys, which was very hard as employers and also their friends, knowing that no one else is hiring. LeRoy (and one apprentice) just go on faith from day to day hoping that small repairs come in, and so far they have.

Our Relief Society lesson today was taken from Elder Wirthlin, "Come What May, and Love It" and one of his suggestions was to "learn to laugh". We've been so stressed about work that I even thought during class, "how to we just laugh at this?". Well, the answer is in the yellow pages. It doesn't fix anything but it did give us a laugh.

I know that things will work out (in all of our struggles, not just the finances):

somehow

eventually

and for our best good.

"Come What May, and Love It"

Ensign, November 2008, pg 26

"How can we love days that are filled with sorrow? Don't . . suppress discouragement or deny the reality of pain. Don't . . smother unpleasant truths beneath a cloak of pretended happiness. I do believe that the way we react to adversity can be a major factor in how happy and successful we can be in life.

If we approach adversities wisely, our hardest times can be times of greatest growth, which in turn can lead toward times of greatest happiness.

Adversity, if handled correctly, can be a blessing in our lives. We can learn to love it. As we look for humor, seek for the eternal perspecitve, understand the principle of compensation, and draw near to our Heavenly Father, we can endure hardship and trial. We can say, "Come what may, and love it."

Track Meet - Pocatello

Jo and Mo (aka Erika and Whitney)
Just finished her final race.

Erika's first track meet for this year was held in Pocatello. LeRoy and I, along with Nathan and Hyrum, spent the afternoon hanging out with Grandma and Grandpa while waiting for Erika's races. It was such a perfect day to be outside! We didn't need jackets, there was only a slight breeze, and there wasn't any mud around us.

Erika did great! The coach put her in 2 relays so she was only able to do 1 individual race. She was a little frustrated with her time on her individual race because it was 2 seconds longer than what she had been running all week long in practice, which put her in 3rd place in her heat. The disadvantage today was that she ran the relay and only had 1 race between her relay and her individual to catch her breath. Still, a great start to the track season!

Nathan sure adores his Grandpa!

These two didn't sit still for very long! They rolled down the hill, raced up the hill, did circles around the fence post, went up and down the bleacher steps and did steps and jumps on the concrete edge along the field. What a workout!

Peru - Details

The Women The typical women's clothing that we saw all around Cusco, Aquas Calientes, and the surrounding areas. It was so hot outside and they were layered in these thick woven clothes with hats and the huge blankets on their backs carrying a full load.

Our guide introduced us to this young lady (27 years old) and she showed us how to weave. I wondered how many hours she spends sitting there on that hard spot of ground in those hot clothes weaving away under her hat. I was a little embarrassed as the guide spoke to her, then took her hat and told me to get in the picture and put her hat on my head. I felt so invasive of her space but she just smiled and continued weaving.

Roads

In Lima Kellie pointed out that there are only the lanes, then the sidewalks. There is no such thing as a shoulder at the side. Then in Cusco we saw that there aren't even marked lanes just cobblestone, brick and dirt, and barely wide enough for 2 small vehicles to pass each other. We saw one travel bus coming down the road and had to back up because there wasn't room to pass each other.

In Cusco the front doors to shops and homes run right along those narrow roads. It was all a bit too crowded for my taste.

I had been mentally preparing all week long for the road up to Machu Picchu . I had heard that it is pretty scary and I don't do so well with those kinds of roads, but I was willing to do it for the view at the top. I have to say that I was more scared on the streets of Cusco than taking the bus up the switchbacks to Machu Pucchu. In this picture you can see the switchbacks all the way up the mountain .

There was so much vegetation all the way up the mountain that only a couple of times could I see all the way down the valley. And even though the buses seemed to just barely have enough room on the road, I felt rather safe.

Food
The food could be almost as scary as the traffic. Not really, but mealtimes did bring a few surprises. My favorite food experience of the whole trip was the first "Pina Frozen" that I had. They make these really great slush drinks with real fruit (not some reconstituted, sugared up fruit juice) and ice and I tried a pina frozen at 4 different places. The first one was by far the best. Levi tried a Strawberry Frozen which was also very delicious.

Fear Factor Food:

This is Levi enjoying his first cuy (guinea pig).

I love Jeremy's expression in the background

The presentation is lacking, bordering disgusting and tactless. Notice the full head with teeth, eyes, and yes, even the brain, as well as the claws reaching out in 'please don't eat me' begging. I really had to focus on my own plate while Levi picked away at his (gag) lunch. Even with the gross display, Levi and Shawn both claim that the meat is good.


So now that you've seen the worst of it the rest won't seem so bad. The only time I nearly gagged was when I was getting ready to eat what I thought was Spanish rice with chicken only to discover that one of the pieces of 'chicken' had antennas. In looking a little closer I realized it was snail and quickly had to squelch that gagging feeling in my throat. One of the other pieces of 'chicken' looked more like a hairless caterpillar, so I passed that up too. I had been brave during the past 3 days to try new things but this was pushing it. Levi on the other hand ate all the meat that came with my rice . . yup, snail and some other wormy creature.

This is the restaurant where I had my snail meal. The rest of the food was very good but the building and scenery were even better. It was a gorgeous setting and was so relaxing and the bathroom even had toilet paper in it!

The main dining hall at the restaurant

So here is the rundown:

Kimberly:

Cow heart - I'm not a red meat fan to begin with so I wasn't too impressed but it tasted like steak.

Alpaca meat (from the llama family) - even though I had held a 1 month old alpaca earlier in the day, (pictured above) I gave it a try and it wasn't bad. A little like pork but less fatty, more tender.

Lamb - delicious, probably my new favorite meat (that I have no idea where to buy or how to prepare).

Levi: Alpaca, cow heart, lamb, snail & wormy thing, ceviche (raw fish marinated in lemon juice), and the gross looking cuy (guinea pig)

Levi wins the travelers stomach award!

Considering we both had rather sick bowels for about 4 days I don't know what we really won other than bragging rights.

Our Hotel in Cusco

These are a a couple of pictures of the hotel we stayed at in Cusco.

As we entered the front door from the very narrow street I was a little concerned but once we walked into the courtyard I was in awe at the beauty of it. I couldn't believe that such a beautiful flower garden could be growing in the middle of such a dirty, congested, rocky area. the balcony seemed a little rickety and the room was less than comfortable (especially with the 2 hobo looking spiders that were snuggled in my towel as well as the grime on the floor that prompted me to always have socks on) but it was better than camping. I wasn't expecting the Marriott - good thing! After driving for 2 days and seeing what all of the citizens of Peru were living in I was thankful for our simple hotels to stay in.

Other Housing

These are a couple of shots of the Inca village that we visited (where Guinea Pig Love came from that Shawn so eloquently shared with us :)

These waterways run through several of the walkways in the village and at one place we saw a woman washing her laundry in it. Even though it looked a little cleaner than the murky brown water I had seen in the river, I still wondered how clean it could really be and hoped that it wasn't their drinking water. I was grateful at this point to have my bottled water.

The cutest little girl in all of Peru!

Andie was my occasional tag-a-long during the trip. She would sit by me, cuddle up with me, giggle with me. Just what a mommy missing her own 3 year old needed! What an infectious smile!

Wacky Wednesday

As part of Dr. Suess week, the elementary school had Wacky Wednesday. Since I was out of the country, Erika helped Justin put an outfit together.

Wacky indeed! The hair does look like something out of a Suess book.

Green Warning!

Grapes, Lime aide, Kiwi, Broccoli, Rolls dyed green, Rice dyed green . . . . the brightest, greenest, most flourescent poop I have ever seen from a 1 year old!

Ok - probably too much information but that's what's happening around here today.

Our St. Patrick's day festivities were brought to an abrupt halt when I realized at 11pm Monday night (after a long and hectic day) that I had no idea where the box of green goodies was. You know, all those decorations, hats, stickers and fluff that I have purchased over the last few years. I could picture where it was in the other house since St. Patrick's Day was the last holiday we celebrated there, then I had a baby, we moved, I didn't think about it again until Monday. Where were the leprechaun kisses??? That was the part that I was really sad about because Nathan would have loved it and the other kids would have really built it up and made it fun.

Even without the leprechaun kisses we had shoes taped to the ceiling, beds standing on end, mattresses flipped sideways, stuffed animals all standing on their heads, and toy cars turned up-side-down as proof to the kids that the leprechauns had still come for their yearly visit.

Playing in Peru

49 hours in airports/on planes

8 different planes

3 hours on a train

17 hours in cars

4 stamps in my passport

Worth every bit of travel, every penny (and hundreds of dollars) spent!

It's hard to know where to begin, how to scrunch such a full week into a short post (or several short posts) and where to find the time to do it (could life really be busier than when I left?). I took a journal with me just for this trip and now I look back through it wondering what to include and what to skip and how to summarize all that writing. So much pressure . . . so here is my day of rest, blogging.

SLC Airport - early morning (thanks for playing taxi Kara!)

Lima Airport 17 hours later. Actually this was taken at the Lima airport on the way home but we didn't get a picture of them when we arrived. Shawn did a great re-enactment of our first airport meeting!

We arrived in Lima one hour late (12:40am) and by the time we got through immigration, customs, baggage claim, arrived at Shawn and Kellie's house and climbed into bed it was nearly 4 am. And church started at 8:30. It was an interesting experience sitting through a Sacrament Meeting that was all in Spanish and listening to the English translation in my ear while my head was swimming with a jet-lag hangover. In the end I found that I understood more than I thought I would, gave up on the translation and really enjoyed the day. Sunday school was the best I have ever been to and Brendan's baptism was the icing on the Sabbath cake! (Kellie's blog will fill you in on that).

Sunday was also our first exposure to the Peruvian sun. After the baptism we went outside to take a few pictures and after only about 15 minutes I felt like I was on the verge of a sunburn. It isn't necessarily hotter there, just a more direct burn to the skin. I spent the rest of the trip smothered in sunscreen.

On Monday we went to the Embassy. Not a whole lot to see and not at all glamorous but kinda cool that we could enter because we were with Shawn and Kellie. As we came out the gates of the embassy Kellie took our picture really fast - we already knew we couldn't take any from inside or the Marines would come and get us, but we weren't sure on the outside. So Kellie quickly snapped a couple of shots, just as a guard waved his finger at us and told us no photo's. The idea of "better to obtain forgiveness than permission" still got us in trouble.

This one is for you Gymboree fans! Across the street from the embassy there was a Gymboree sign, a daycare not the store but still, Gymboree. So for all of you loyal shoppers out there I attempted to catch a quick photo without the guard noticing. Well, he did and we got an earful of angry Spanish and finger waving. Evidently we aren't supposed to take pictures of anything across the street from the embassy either. The really funny part is that there is a 10+ story building going up next to the Gymboree and the exterior is all glass. I wonder how they will monitor pictures being taken there?

Monday night we went into downtown Lima and saw a gorgeous cathedral, the town square and the building (in this picture) that is equivalent to our White House (not sure what it was called). We took a picture of it from across the street since we didn't know if we could get in trouble for taking pictures of that building too, and because there were guards all around with big guns - just a bit intimidating - we also didn't dare take pictures of them.

Levi is saved - he went to confession. Doesn't he look a little nervous?

Tuesday was a day to catch up with Kellie. We walked to a breadstore (which was Fabulous!!), waited for the boys to get home from school, worked on a craft project, watched "Secret Life of Bees" together and of course talked, talked, talked. It was so nice to have some downtime with Kells to just hangout and be sisters instead of tourists.

Wednesday night we went to see the Fonseca's. Hugo and Megan were in our ward in Rexburg (Hugo was Levi's YM president and a really great friend) and they had moved to Puerto Rico about 1 1/2 years ago. In January they moved to Lima and through another friend (Thanks Silvia!!) we were able to connect with them on our trip. It was so fun to visit with them again and let the kids play with Dominic. I admit that I got a bit homesick hanging out with them because they were asking so many questions about people from Rexburg. Also, watching Megan take care of their baby girl brought on a little mothering homesickness for my own little boys. However, when you hang out with Hugo for a while you end up laughing so hard that worries are soon gone. It was great to be with them!

Dominic was having to much fun playing and refused to be in the picture. Though I took some of him I think my camera must have been set on "fuzzy" because that was all I got.

We spent Thursday afternoon at the beach/ocean. I stick with my previous theory (and fear) that water should be watched and listened to, not played in. Levi and Jeremy both went out to far and though Kellie was able to rescue Jeremy, we had to leave that up to a life guard for Levi. He didn't think that he was in any real danger and didn't think that he was out that far but from watching on shore we saw how each big wave pulled him further and further out, almost past the buoy. I'm just so grateful that there was a lifeguard there to do what I wouldn't have been able to do to save my son.

Levi waiting for the next great wave.

On a happier note, Andie, Kellie and I had a great time just playing in the sand on the beach. I have never applied so much sunscreen in one day! Even after applying it faithfully several of us still managed to have burn spots. The boys did have a great time in the water. Shawn and Levi spent a lot of time riding the waves and we managed to get video of both of them riding in on one of the big ones (but that takes more time to upload so pictures will have to do for now).

My overall impression of Peru is that it is very dirty. I'm talking garbage in the streets, everywhere. The cleanest, most secure place that I saw was definitely Kellie's house. The neighborhood is nice, the streets clean. But even just a few blocks away and it seems like a totally different city. There is also poverty there that I have only previously seen on TV but until we were driving past it my mind didn't really acknowledge that it exists. I wanted to reach out to do something, to take in the little kids in the median who's parents were selling stuff among the traffic or to toss my sandwich out the train window to the little boys reaching their hands out to us. Unfortunately, there was nothing that I could do in my week long visit that would really make a difference. However, I feel more of a nag to do some humanitarian work through the church.


And the rest will have to wait. There is more to come, just not today.

Number 2

Before I left the country Nathan was showing signs that he was ready to start potty-training. I wasn't. I wanted to wait until I got back so that it wouldn't be interrupted with the crazy schedule that would take place while I was gone.

I got back on Monday (ok - 1:30am Tuesday Morning) and Wednesday morning he announced that he was going to wear underwear.

After a couple of wet accidents he got the number 1 part down. Treats always help. But this afternoon he started crying that he wanted to wear his diaper again. I figured it was because he hadn't done his scheduled number 2 for the day (or yesterday) and was a little scared knowing it was coming without a diaper on. So we read stories while he sat there waiting for his body to do it's job. He did it!! Once again, treats help. "I'm so proud of Nathan", he kept saying!

The humorous part of this came later when he came running through the house, "mommy, mommy, come see my poop!". How can that not bring a smile to your face? He went all by himself! Then when I gave him his treat he put it on the table and told me that he had to call dad first. Oh, what a conversation:

"Hi daddy, I went poop in the potty!"

"Good job buddy! That's awesome! Did mom give you your treat?"

"Yeah, I went poop all by myself!"

And then he wanted to call Levi too.

"Hi Weevi, I went poop in the potty!"

"Way to go dude! That's awesome!"

"I fwushed it all the way down!"


One of my favorite things is a baby in a white onsie, I can't resist cuddling that. But now I remember how fun it is to see cute little toddler buns running around the house in their first pair of underwear!