Texas Trip 2017

As soon as we got home from the Bahamas, I was doing laundry and re-packing for five days in Texas. I also quickly put together some travel boxes for the boys and checked out of the library the first two book in the Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites audio series. It was a favorite for our older kids so I figured the younger ones should have the same Texas traveling experience. They loved it so much that I had to download a YouTube copy of the third book for the remainder of our trip home.

 The trip there was typical of any trip where I am trapped in an enclosed vehicle with the smelly habits of Edwards boys. Nathan and Hyrum were in a comic drawing phase so to get my point across, I used one of their pages and drew my own comic which, ironically, I did not find so comical.

 

After two days of stinky travel we arrived at Lenora's house. The following two days were spent in her pool and hanging out with family.

It was wonderful to see LeRoy's family and to rebuild relationships with those that we so seldom see.

My favorite picture from this trip! Frank doesn't show his true smile often, usually just a lopsided smirk, but I caught him watching the kids playing in the pool and when he looked up I got it, his true smile. He looks so youthful to me in this picture. What a wonderful man we have to lead the Edwards family. We are so blessed by him!

Nathan and Hyrum each played a game of pool with Papa, which stands out as one of their favorite memories from the trip. 

We all secretly signed a big card for Papa for Father's Day. It was wonderful to be together for his big day.

The Edwards men are so much alike! Tom's grandson took to LeRoy quite comfortably which surprised everyone since he doesn't like men. We all saw a little of Uncle Tom in him and were so glad to have him with us.

Our days were spent at Lenora's and our nights were spent with Nanny and Papa.

As much as we loved being together with everyone, it was calming to have just the six of us for late night ice cream, reminiscing, looking at pictures, and catching the Texas Rangers game. Nanny spoiled us with such yummy food and loved on us until we felt quite spoiled.

With a little one on one time it became quite evident that LeRoy is the spitting image of his dad! Right down to the way he chews his food, holds his head, stares at a ballgame, and even in their ornery stubbornness.

On Sunday we went to church with Nanny and Papa and enjoyed a wonderful Father's Day sacrament program.  After church we went to a couple of cemeteries in Mineral Wells and shared stories and some family history as we visited a few graves.

Roberta - LeRoy's mom

Tom - LeRoy's brother, Nathan was born on his birthday

Grandpa James Darden Loope - Nathan's middle name is Darden, after Grandpa

On Monday morning we started our two day journey home. Along the way we stopped at the Monticello Temple where I was able to share a few stories of our Hawkins ancestors and my mom, who grew up in Monticello. 

It was fun to show the boys where my mom grew up, where we went swimming one summer when we visited Grandpa and Grandma and the church where I remembered going as a little girl.

Cynthia Darlene shared such kind memories of Roberta (LeRoy's mom) and coaxed a few stories out of Papa about Viet Nam, meeting Roberta, and some very touching family stories that had never before been shared. She is such a wonderful support to Frank and we are so blessed to have her carry on the matriarchal torch for the last 11 years! 

The Bahamas

Legal Shield rewarded LeRoy's hard work with a five day trip to The Bahamas. 

Paradise Island and the Royal Towers at Atlantis (right in the center of the book crease) were beautiful, even though my stomach kept reminding me that I was on a very small island in the ocean, meaning I was surrounded by water.

At the resort we watched a worker feed piranhas, sat in the famous Atlantis chair, and wandered among man-made waterfalls as well as the The Dig, an underground aquarium with Indiana Jones type artifacts and floor to ceiling tanks full of wonderful water creatures.

The lazy river was anything but lazy! With intermittent moments of calm, the river was a rumbling tumble of waves, falls, and so much laughter.

Along the lazy river was the Mayan Temple and slide that LeRoy rode down a couple of times. It was a straight, 3 second ride from top to bottom with a sudden horizontal tunnel taking him through live sharks.

Speaking of sharks. . . I walked among sharks!

This was my absolute favorite part of the trip. Oddly enough, LeRoy was nervous about it and I was so excited. We wore special helmets that meant that the water did not touch our faces (perfect!) and we would breathe just like normal, but we could walk right in among the sharks. At 25 feet deep, we held living starfish, bobbled along the sandy ground, and let the sharks brush up against us.

LeRoy's favorite part of the trip was snorkeling in the ocean. The fish and reef were fascinating to him, though getting the hang of snorkeling left him a bit flummoxed and he took in more salt water than the human body likes.

While LeRoy played in the ocean, I enjoyed sitting in the sun on the deck. As rocky as the ride out was, it was rather calming to feel the warm sun on me as I was gently rocked nearly to sleep.

A slight storm came in on our way back to shore which left me a bit unsettled but so very appreciative of our captain. He didn't talk to anyone on the way out, letting the other guides do all the talking, and he stayed in a little sitting spot for the time others were snorkeling, and again, silently took us back to land.  When I thanked and tipped him he seemed shocked and when I asked for a picture with him, he showed the most beautiful, sincere smile I'd seen on the whole island. He has no idea how grateful this aquaphobic was for his skill and knowledge on the water.

The other person on the island that was touched by our request for a picture was the lovely lady at the restaurant that we ate at each morning. We was the female version of LeRoy: so bubbly cheerful and chatty and very willing to help the lost Idahoans needing directions.

P.S. Humidity hair is a real struggle!

Graduation

Before graduation we had to figure out how Justin was going to do his "full" in a gown with all the decorations on it, a cap, and slippery shoes on a stage.  It took a bajillion pins but we finally got it figured out.

As a freshman in high school Justin set a challenge for himself: to do a standing full on stage at his graduation. I didn't know about this goal until just a couple of weeks before. As he walked up on stage, I found myself holding my breath just like I did at every gymnastics and/or cheer event over the past 10 years, and I offered a silent prayer. 

The person reading the graduates names whispered to him, "you ready for this?" He nodded, took a couple more steps, removed his cap, and did a perfect standing full. When he donned his cap and walked over to accept his diploma cover, the principal shook his hand and said, "well done".

So well done! 

No gown, tassel, shoes, or slippery stage could get in the way of this boy and his determination and skill.

We were honored to hang out with our honors graduate, his high school career complete with a 4.20 GPA, an academic scholarship, 11 waived college math credits (that's nearly a full semester!), and a cheer scholarship to Weber State University.

After graduation and before he left for the senior all-night party, we stopped by Kiwi-Loco for our last high school frozen yogurt celebration. When we got home he stood near the kitchen and his halo appeared, confirming my hunch that he is near teenage perfection.

Justin finished the last two months coaching his Airbound Gymnastics kids and though he thought he was burning out after 3 years of coaching and was ready to move onto the next phase of life, he found that he was a little sad to leave.

I put together an 8.5 x 11 booklet with this collage on the front cover and blank pages inside and left it at the gym during the week after he had moved to Utah.  His gym kids wrote the kindest notes! Even some of the coaches and moms left encouraging and gratitude filled words for him. 

When I gave him his book a couple of weeks later he teared up as he sat and read through his card. As much as his gym kids loved him, he also loved working with them. 

Our Madison Bobcat has grown into a Weber Wildcat.

He wears the purple and black proud and they are lucky to have him. After all, Boise State and Utah State also wanted him.

Justin's Senior Pictures

That smile gets to me every time!

When Justin and Kayla went to Boise for a tour of BSU and BSU cheer tryouts, we decided to turn the trip into a photo shoot so that we could use our favorite photographer, Michelle Ray. She had done senior pictures for Levi, Erika, Vivien, and Derek, as well as the past six years of family pictures for us and we couldn't imagine anyone else doing senior pictures for Justin.

Spencer and Michelle were kind enough to let us stay at their place which gave Michelle and I time to visit while they were on campus and then we spent the next morning doing pictures around Meridian. Michelle doesn't just takes photos, it's an experience full of laughter, jokes, borderline inappropriateness, and the pictures come back to us with full memories attached.

It was a real struggle to choose which pictures I would post here so I lumped them into categories.

 His Smile

and as Michelle requested, his smolder.


Our Music Man

Working the street for a little college funding.


The Cheerleader

They take this gig seriously!


"It looks like he's . . . leaning." 

Sit Skills . . . and don't forget the smolder.

A healthy dose of silliness,

and time with his girl, Kayla.

It is quite evident by this post that I can't choose a favorite picture to hang on the wall and I had the same problem when Levi had his senior pictures taken. I decided with Levi's pictures that I would do a book of all the pictures, which I have done for each of my seniors.

It wasn't until we were looking through all the printed books that we found twinner pictures of Derek and Justin doing the same goofy pose with their guitars.

Michelle did not tell them to do that, she's just quick with the camera to catch candid silliness.


Our love for Michelle grew even more when we received the CD of originals in the mail. The front cover had us laughing hysterically.

Evidently she got a little carried away with editing but we absolutely loved the result.  Staring at Justin's face over and over again seems to have created a mild crush on him, which I completely understand and have a similar problem with.

Memorial Day and Bear World

Grandpa Jessie Evans served in World War I

Grandpa Vern Fullmer served in World War II

We spent our Memorial Weekend at Grandpa Jesse and Grandpa Vern's graves as well as telling stories and visiting the graves of some of our other Evans and Fullmer grandparents. Hyrum always loves hearing stories about Grandpa Jesse because he is named after him and Grandpa also spent many of his younger years in Hibbard (like Hyrum), even being baptized in a river somewhere out here in Hibbard.

It was nice to share the experience with Max and Zane since these are their grandparents as well.

Sandwiched between our Saturday visit at the Menan Cemetery and our Sunday visit at the Sugar City Cemetery, we had a picnic in Idaho Falls and visited Bear World.

This poor bear gets fingers up his nose every time we are there. Such a boy thing!

Feeding the deer never gets boring, it's actually quite relaxing being around such a serene animal. We learned this trip not to touch their fuzzy antlers because they have hundreds of nerve endings in them and it hurts them when touched. That's why they jump back or jerk their head away if your hand goes near their antlers.

The highlight of Bear World every time!

We always have at least one we want to take home with us, and we usually have at least one who wanders right next to the van. How can something so cuddly and soft with gentle eyes and a huggable face be so dangerous?

On Sunday we took a drive over to the nature park where we had scooter races and our monkey boys hung out in the trees.

MAY

Erika, Kailee and Derek came for a brief visit so that Erika and Derek could participate in the final concert conducted by Mr. Hansen, the orchestra teacher. All previous students of Mr. Hansen were invited for a come-back performance and a farewell for his retirement. I admit, it left me teary watching them play violin and cello on stage again.

Nathan was so excited to have Derek home with his cello. Nathan first played a couple of his piano songs to which Derek improvised to make it a duet and then they pulled out the 5th grade music and Derek once again created his own version of the song so they could play together. It was the perfect boost Nathan needed to renew the excitement that he'd had at the beginning of his orchestra year.

It's adorable to see them glancing at each other out of the corner of the eye waiting to see who was going to start. It provided a good laugh and then Nathan counted them in.

My Little Fish

Nathan and Hyrum can each swim the full length of the pool, do back stroke, and are learning how to dive with Rolayne Waldron, their swim instructor.

Aaaah, Sweet Summer!

Finally!! The weather is warm enough for a lemonade stand!

The boys raked it in during their first attempt. Other neighbor kids have had a stand at the entrance of the subdivision so it was our turn. However, we were determined to change the reputation of our local country corner. Previous stops to support our neighbors left us with a bitter, bland, warm, or barely-there lemonade experience so our plan was to please the senses, spark the insulin, and carbonate the belly. Hyrum decided to make the "secret family recipe" round in the family cookbook and headed off to the stop sign to impress the neighborhood. Fizzy Raspberry Lemonade did the trick!

Hyrum even had the brilliant idea to use our tiny paper cups for free samples which got rave reviews and brought on additional sales and repeat customers at 50 center per cup. When the goods were gone and mess cleaned up they counted their loot and behold... $28!! Not bad for a couple of hours greeting friends on the corner. They were very impressed with how they had turned $6.28 worth of product into $28, and were very happy to split the profit.

Spring Soccer

Nine consecutive Saturday mornings ranging from wind, rain, frost, and extremely low temperatures to sunny and warm, with one satisfied sporty boy burning his energy and going for the goal.

Sporty Flashback

Derek age 11   ~    Justin age 9

Back in the day, the chosen summer sport was baseball. . . at least for one year. 

Derek and Justin each gave it a good effort but each found it was not their thing. 

Derek's passion was in that wooden, leaning shed behind him where he spent hours working with wood, tools, and piles of recycling to create the inventions his mind came up with. Being in the middle of an extreme growth spurt didn't make baseball fun for him. Running hurt because he is flat-footed and throwing hurt because he felt like his elbows would pop apart. 

Justin found that he truly preferred gymnastics and standing in a field or dugout just did not burn the energy busting inside him. He struggled when team members whined and didn't put in their best effort. Gymnastics was all on him and he wanted to improve and do his best. 

Summer came full of sunshine and green grass, enticing us to soak in its rays and roam barefoot in our beloved acre of the world. A freshly tilled garden calmed my anxious excitement of all the big events coming in the next few weeks. My calloused hands and newly planted rows were the trophies that I proudly cared for.

Nathan and Hyrum joined in the gardening care as they treated their individual apple trees with additional water and words of encouragement for a bounteous harvest.

Our cheerful innocence, as we took pleasure in each day, was sorely met by the notorious winds that tend to sweep through Rexburg.  For the second year in a row the playhouse lost its battle against the blustery gusts as it toppled once more to a heap on the ground.

Weakened through the torture of such a tumble twice over, it was time to turn the 2-story Chattel house into a single story Rambler. Derek took over construction with Daymia as his apprentice.

Levi took over the grill while Hyrum set up a full picnic and together they provide our first outdoor dinner of many throughout the summer.

Our productive evening ended with a volley of jokes, laughter, and occasionally, the ball.

This family of mine is pure joy! They are my laughter, my heart, and my forever!

Idaho Falls LDS Temple Open House

 

Levi (25), Nathan (11), Hyrum (9)

Levi got off work early in Idaho Falls and met us at the bus location for a ride over to the temple. It was almost like a trip back in time to walk through the temple. Nearly everything was the same as it was in the 1990's when LeRoy and I would attend that temple because the Rexburg Temple had not yet been built.

I almost felt like I was in my parent's temple. It wasn't until the tour that I realized I had always felt that way about the Idaho Falls Temple. The paintings, color scheme, layout, and the fact that it was the temple where my Dad received his endowments, all made it feel like it was from a generation ago whereas the Rexburg Temple feels like mine. I've vacuumed the baptistry, dusted the entry, cleaned out the lockers and attended there more times than I can count. Still, it was great to walk through the Idaho Falls Temple to let the boys have whatever experience would be specific to them.

The boys loved and admired the murals in each room but seemed a bit frustrated that it was a silent tour and that they were shushed a couple of times. They wanted to ask questions and Levi wanted to share memories. When we walked into the baptistry Levi started to tell the boys that he had done baptisms there, one of which was for Great Grandpa Levi Edwards that he is named after. A worker tried to shush them but I signaled a plea to her to let them talk. This was a brother moment and I didn't want Levi's memory and sharing of it interrupted. When it became an actual realization to Nathan that he would get to do baptisms at the temple in just one year he became very excited and I'm grateful to Levi for sparking that excitement in him.

Our bus ride preceding the tour and our drive to dinner after the tour were anything but reverent. Our favorite photo from the bus is the selfie of Levi and Nathan with the guy behind them photo bombing. 

Nathan and Hyrum wanted to ride in Levi's car to Chuck-A-Rama (or Upchuck-A-Rama as I call it) and due to his fancy car and speedy skills they got there before we did. They sent us a couple of Snaps questioning our whereabouts to which we Snapped back at the closest stoplight. They were particularly fond of the Devil/Angel photo of LeRoy and I, finding it quite appropriate to our personalities.