Derek's 15th Birthday

June 25th, 2011

Derek was thrilled with a new book of project ideas from Grandma, Twizzleberry certificates from the Boyd family and a block of wood that represented a trip to Home Depot for wood.

I'd wish I had taken pictures at Home Depot! His reactions could match that of a Willy Wonka golden ticket trip. He guided his freight cart like a professional (with an occasional burst of speed when his excitement got the better of him) and left with a good sized pile of wood, some hinges, a pound of screws, a pack of gum, and his brain overflowing with ideas.

The cake matched the gift

.

His flaming drill bit and chocolate rice crispy wood were not going to be much help in construction but it was a visual hit.

Proof of our cake demolition was evident in all of our black and red mouths.

The first completed birthday wood project?

A really tall, powerful, stand way back or you'll get your head knocked off

Trebuchet

The Hills in Rexburg

June 13-16, 2011

We were very excited to have Kara, Max and Zane visit us. It was their first trip after Zane was born and we were very excited to meet him. He immediately became the center of attention.

We had perfect weather for the kids to spend all the time outside that they wanted. They had played so much in our own backyard that to spice things up a bit we took them to the Hibbard school playground. It's great to live out in the country and have a "park" all to ourselves for a picnic and recess.

Nathan was so excited to practice on the monkey bars at "his school" before starting kindergarten in the fall. He was brave enough to get across three bars and determined that on his first day of school he would "go all the way".

Nathan also mastered the skill of "pumping" himself on the swing. Max and Hyrum were content to bobble around on their bellies.

Even Derek and Justin were entertained at the elementary school, remembering the good times they had at Kennedy Elementary. Derek thought all the equipment was super tiny having grown about 2 feet since the last time he had played on it. Fitting into a tire isn't as easy when you're over six feet tall.

Justin made silly noises and pretended to chase after Max and soon it was a full game. I have never heard Max laugh so hard or see Justin be quite so animated. Max would run as fast as he could, laughing hysterically the whole time, until he was safely is Kara's arms. Justin is so great with his younger brothers, cousins and neighbors and seems to have a real gift for transforming bored, sad faces into smiles, giggles and a really fun time.

Each day we rewarded ourselves for all that exhausting playtime with our normal routine of baths and books. It was fun to share our favorite books with our cousins.

Kara and I did manage to steal enough time away to make a couple of crafts. She had been wanting some quiet church somethings for each boy so we made a Peek-a-Book thingy for Zane and a travel car mat for Max. His car mat had a little city of buildings that he could move around, some little people and animals to bring a little life to town, complete with handles for him to carry it all by himself and a pocket to store his cars, people and animals in.

Just Like the Old Days

June 7, 2011

In an attempt to relieve the budget, give the dryer a break, and provide my kids with a steady summer job,

I decided to put up a clothes line.

Derek was so excited to put his designing and building skills to work and quickly had us all involved.

Hyrum was his right hand man.

Justin's buff gymnastic arms came in very handy for hauling sand to refill the post holes and his all

powerful body was the perfect support when Derek was ready to put the lines up.

Nathan added a few additional staples at his level and never gave up or took a break (even the obviously

needed potty break) until the job was done.

I instructed the boys on the proper technique of clothes hanging and they were instant professionals.

As it came closer to the time to take the dry clothes down the boys were hoping for a rainstorm so that they could rush out in the rain to save the dry clothes "just like in the movies". That opportunity came 3 days later. I've never seen my boys so excited about doing laundry! Now if only I could find a way to make the folding and putting away part fun.

After a couple of days looking at our clothes line Derek decided it would be visually better if he cut the extra part off the top of each post. We wouldn't want anyone thinking that having a clothesline was a cross to bear.

Mexico: Homes of Hope

May 27-30, 2011

My brother James works for a company that sponsors the Youth With a Mission (YWAM)/Homes of Hope programs. His company paid for several employees and some of their family members to go to Mexico for 3 days to participate in a home build. Derek and I had the opportunity to go with the group to Ensenada Mexico. It was an opportunity that we will never forget.

Derek, me, my Mom, my brother James, my sister Kate, and my sister-in-law Audi.

We flew from SLC to San Diego, CA (where we met up with Audi) and then rode a bus across the border into Mexico. It was a very strange feeling to cross the border and immediately see the obvious differences. As we went up one side of a mountain we could see the border for miles - a tall concrete wall on the U.S. side, a wall made of almost anything of the Mexico side - and for a brief moment Derek and I felt a brief sense of insecurity being on the Mexico side. However, even with the travel warnings and worried family members that we left behind, we never felt that insecurity again. Prayer and good works go a long way.

YWAM bus ride and a quick view of the city

From there we went to the Youth With a Mission mission home in Ensenada to have an authentic Mexican dinner and to meet our building crew and the mission members. They are wonderful people with big hearts and a great sense of humor. Each day we met at the YWAM Center. We ate all of our meals at the center and were given instructions as to what would happen each day. For 2 days we would work from morning until night, only stopping for meals. The first day we painted walls, framed, wired the electrical (for future use only), added windows and the door, and put up the sheet-rock. The second day we added shingles, painted the inside, added all the trim, and completed the home with furniture, cleaning supplies, food and decor.

Each morning we began with prayer and got to work.

Derek was constantly busy, his building skills, height and ability to do electrical all came in handy.

When the walls were all painted and framed in and the roof pieces finished, we all worked together to raise the walls. That was really cool!

James, Kate, Derek and I all had the opportunity to lay shingles for the roof.

YWAM also provided a bunk bed with bedding, a dining set with table, chairs and dishes, a new propane stove (they were previously using a single propane burner in the trailer), curtains, and food items that the mother chose on a shopping trip into town while we put everything in the house.

Before and After

It was very humbling to imagine living in a 20x30 building with no bathroom, no running water, no electricity, no refrigerator, no washer or dryer, not even enough bed space for each person and yet the family was so excited and grateful to have everything we were offering them. When the home was finished we all stood in a circle and shared the moments that impressed, touched, or just meant something to us. After each person spoke, we passed the home keys around till they eventually ended up with the new homeowners. Afterward, they got to see their finished home for the first time. We then knocked on the door and they were able to invite us in.

Top: Our family with the Vasquez-Mejia family

Bottom: our building group

Maria, the 13 year old daughter in the family, and her friend Edmi kept glancing Derek's way and giggling throughout the 2 days. As we were cleaning up to leave Maria found the courage to speak to Derek and said one word "facebook". He nodded and they exchanged names so that they could friend each other on facebook. Then she got really brave and started acting out "take a picture". With my very limited Spanish I was able to interpret between the three of them and get a picture and say some thank you's and goodbye's. The girls were giddy!! By the following Tuesday (when the girls were back to school where they could be on a computer) Derek had friend requests from both of them.

James had been to Ensenada a few months before our trip so he took us to his favorite churro shop.

They were wonderful!

Our last view of the family as we drove down the mountain

Gymnast Justin

Justin has been doing gymnastics for four and a half years now. We couldn't have picked a better sport for this energetic, bouncing, flipping, standing-on-his-head kid. Spring always brings the recital and Justin's renewed goal to top last years number of whips in a row. It makes the rest of us dizzy.

Coach ValaRae and Justin

We ♥ Airbound

During the very first recital that Justin performed in he fell in love with the pyramid trick. At age seven he told me that someday he would be the one jumping over the top. This was his year.

The whip pass. We call it his froggy pass because he still needs to get those legs straight but how do you find fault in a kid who just keeps going and going.

"The Hole"

Some kids build tree houses. Some kids have forts. Some kids convert old out buildings into club houses. My kids dig holes. Serious holes. Justin and Derek started digging holes when we moved here. They each had their own and then connected them with a tunnel, which didn't last very long with sandy soil and rain storms.

This year Derek and Chris had the urge to dig again. So, they dug and dug and dug and hooked up a pulley and dug some more until they had a 9 foot deep hole in the ground. They installed a ladder and then built a roof over it because I was a little anxious about having a death trap in the back yard. Electricity was installed next, with guidance from LeRoy, as well as an old TV and DVD player that they picked up at DI, an old microwave from the work trailer, a light and a fan. They (Derek, Justin and Chris) have watched movies in "the hole" and even though it naturally stays pretty cool down there, that much boy creates a locker room kind of sweaty heat. In the "attic" they sit in hiding with their guns sticking out the holes in the walls waiting for the birds to land on the fence.

The roof is a little deceiving because the floor of the hole is actually quite a bit larger with room for them and all their stuff.

The sand pile is incredible, we have our own sand dune.

Their persistence is admirable.

Spring Break with the Harrisons

The highlight of our spring break was having Kate and her boys visit us for a couple of days.

Nathan, Hyrum, Korben and Logan played so well together; they were the best of buddies! While Logan and Nathan were jumping on the trampoline it started to rain. They didn't want to get off and it was a warm rain so we just let them go at it. They laughed and jumped and slid around and laughed some more.

We attempted to feed the ducks at the Nature Park but those ducks must seriously be over-fed. They wouldn't even come to us and the few that did were chased down by excited little boys yelling "here ducky, ducky" as they threw big chunks of bread at them. I think Kate and I had more fun laughing at the boys and the ducks than the boys had feeding the ducks.

Though I feel like I'm getting a little too old to stay up all night long, it was good to visit with Kate while everyone else was asleep. With a 14 year age gap between us we have always been in different seasons of life but now our little boys, motherhood, common interests, similar worries and struggles seem to dissolve the years between us as we share and grow from each other's strengths, weaknesses, and experiences.

Building and Hunting

Derek's final physics project for school was a choose your own adventure kind of thing. He had to pick a project, do a report on it, build and demonstrate it, and write up a quiz for the other students in the class. True to his medieval fantasies, he chose a battering ram to be his project. Because it was something that really interested him and went along with his love for building, this was one homework assignment that he didn't need any nudging on.

When he informed the teacher what his project was and that he was building a demo the teacher asked if he would need a full desk or table to demonstrate. Uh. . . how about a truck, trailer and an outdoor demonstration? The thing turned out to be almost six feet tall! It was so windy that day that during the trip to the school the thing was blown around a bit even though it was secured to the trailer. Before the trip it actually stood rather level. Those chains blowing to the left were whipping all over the place.

Those cute little people in the bottom right were his cheerleaders. We had to wait about 15 minutes for the class to come outside so during the wait we had a little pep rally to keep them entertained. Even though Derek couldn't see or hear them while doing his presentation, they were rooting for him with all their toddler energy and the "make a silly face" cheer.

He built, he studied, he practiced and was very excited with the actual ram. He was nervous about the presentation but once he got into it and his classmates showed there awe at his creation, he got into it with humor as well as information and earned a solid "A".

I wanted to take a video of his presentation and when he rolled his eyes I promised that I would be sneaky about it and not embarrass him in front of his teacher or peers. I held up my end of the bargain but the wind was so bad that the recording didn't pick up much of what was being said, except for the teachers comment, "we love destruction".

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We consider Derek and Chris to be the scarecrows for our raspberries. Maybe I shouldn't be so enthusiastic about the killing but we are country folk and we protect our crops. Though we have joked with the boys that they are now the meat providers of the family they refuse to pluck and clean them so we now have a bird cemetery in our back corner.

The Bodyguard

Harrison took on this position of bodyguard when Nathan was only 2 months old. The two first met at Kara's house in Utah.

Three years later he moved to our house. Not only does he protect our home from any creature in the mouse family but he fills his role as evening nanny doing their bedtime routine with them and purring them to sleep.

He seems to sense who needs comfort on any given night and sleeps there.

He follows the boys around during bath time, brushing their teeth, watching tv, and playing outside.

During a very tough sick night for Nathan, Harrison stayed indoors and sat by him while he puked, snuggled next to him as he whimpered and finally they both dozed off for a couple of hours.

He makes a great potty training coach. During a lengthy bathroom stay, due to fear of number two, Harry seemed to get a bit bored but he didn't leave.

Such a big job can be exhausting.

Prom 2011

After nearly an hour of unwrapping cellophane, Erika found an invitation to Prom.

She rented a beautiful dress and spent oodles of hair time with her friend Brianna. As usual, she looked gorgeous.

After humoring me with 4 pictures, all in the same pose and a variety of facial expressions, Erika and Trent met up with Bridget and Brandon to share a home cooked meal prepared by the guys. After eating a delicious, hearty dinner of steak and rolls they freshened up and went to the ball large new building in Rexburg for an evening of dancing hanging out with friends. It was a Prom night that fit their personalities, left them with good memories and a happy ending to the school year.