Daymia spent most of October trying to convince Levi to be a police officer and she would be the prisoner. He agreed, right up to about 4 days before Halloween. He didn't want to ruin his rap sheet by switching teams. So, once again I got to see him in a prison jumper (minus the stripes).
The bruises they walked in with scared me a little. Just another of Daymia's many skills. I don't mean punching Levi in the
face, I mean makeup!
The Jamba banana costumes came in very handy, especially when Justin had no intention of going trick-or-treating but Levi, Daymia and the little boys convinced him to go around the block with them. He still wasn't sure he wanted to go so last minute (to hide his face a bit) he added the creepy face mask to go with his banana.
They also went over to Daymia's house to show her mom their costumes. . . . where Hyrum was traumatized by seeing
Levi and Daymia kiss "on the lips!!!!"
Nathan and Hyrum spent the afternoon dressing up as Batman, Spiderman, karate guy, Hiccup, Tigger, Wyatt from Super Why, and bananas before they finally settled on Indiana Jones and Red Ninja for their costumes.
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When the kids walked in from school they were surprised to find that their mommy had turned into a witch.
I got a call from Derek's friends one afternoon. Allyn was in such a panic that she couldn't explain the situation to me but I did get enough information to know there was a lot of blood and they wanted to know whether to take Derek to Community Care or the hospital. I was relieved when Sierra's mom got on the phone but I soon remembered that she is high drama when it comes to anything medical (and she herself admits this). The basic story was that he smacked his head on an open cupboard door. First, I could not imagine how my 6'4" son could hit the corner of a cabinet door that I'm positive he is taller than. Second, I now understood why there was so much blood and panic. I know from motherly experience that head wounds bleed A LOT. I also know from experience that Derek easily gets light headed just from standing up so I was not at all surprised that he seemed dizzy and couldn't talk to them after hitting his head. I've done that and it hurts like a ..... well, it hurts. My instincts told me he was okay but because I wasn't there and couldn't talk to or see Derek myself and I didn't want to seem like a bad mother I told them to take him to community care and I would meet them there. Allyn, Sierra and Sierra's mom were convinced he was on his deathbed and I had no intentions of scarring them further.
I got to Community Care first because we live closer so rather than wait I signed him in. When we met up he still looked dizzy but he tried to tell me that he was okay. Sierra and her mom were talking so fast and dramatically that Derek's version was left in the dust though I did understand enough to know that he had saved his favorite white shirt. "Not a drop of blood on it."
At this point I still had not seen the wound, only the bloody rag that he was holding to his head. The nurse quickly called us back and we left the others in the waiting room. They took us to the procedure room assuming from the dramatic telling of events that he was going to need stitches. As the doctor pulled out the stitching supplies and snapped on his blue gloves Derek calmly told his version of the accident. I also informed him that I had not even seen the cut and that his dizziness and lack of communication was very typical of Derek right after an injury so immediately claiming a concussion was a little extreme. Doc removed the bloody cloth and....merely a flesh wound....a very long flesh wound but no depth to it at all. There was nothing to stitch. He was left with a "scratch", a very tender bump on the head and just enough reason for the girls to pamper him.
We all had a good laugh at this point. Not because it was necessarily funny but because of the dramatic vs. practical perceptions of the whole thing. If LeRoy is in charge? Drama. If Kimber's in charge? Practical. Derek? Practical, though probably light headed and doing deep breathing. Not that I don't get concerned, there's just a certain calm in me that takes over when a medical situation comes up. After laughing about it with us the doctor whispered, "don't worry, I won't charge you for it."
I'm not sure Sierra and her mom were convinced it was all okay. They took the "Concussion" what-to-watch-for paper very seriously and promised to watch over him for the next few hours. I drove home alone knowing my boy would be in good hands as they provided a soft couch, pillow, movie and ice cream for him.
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Hyrum really wants to be as tall as Derek, "without someone holding {him} or standing on something".
So, for at least a minute or two, Derek made it possible.
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The BYUI portable rock wall was the main attraction at our ward party. While I was mingling with friends I had no idea that my baby was braving the wall. LeRoy captured it (or at least the shadows of it) on his phone. He has no fear!
Hyrum was the Star Student in his kindergarten class. The teacher requested that we send in a few pictures so I printed this collage in an 8x10.
Man, that kid is adorable!
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While Bret's family was in Rexburg they went to the Teton Flood Museum. Erika sent me a very excited text while she was there. From the time she was little she has heard about our family connections to Rexburg and how her Great Great Great Grandfather opened the very first ice cream shop in Rexburg. Unfortunately, I have never had pictures to show her because, according to our knowledge and connections, all pictures were lost in the flood.
Her text included this picture:
"Mom!! We found Evans Ice Cream Canisters!!"
We were thrilled! Erika even sent the picture via email to my dad.
Recently, I was looking for something else related to old Rexburg and came across a website that anyone
could post pictures on. There, I found pictures of the ice cream shop.
When Derek invited Sierra's family over for dinner and family home evening he had no idea that I was taking the opportunity to make all my saved pinterest pictures of gross Halloween foods into a dinner reality.
Dinner was a morbid success!
Our coffins (hoagie buns) were overflowing with disgustingly delicious fillers and our lips were stained red after
slurping down our vampire juice.
We all broke out laughing when Sierra's mom stated, "that pumpkin vomit is delicious, I think I'll have more!"
When I set out the dessert of kitty litter and droppings I had to practically bribe everyone to try it.
I admit it did look extremely real and even though I knew it was a moist Better-Than-Anything Cake drowning in caramely goodness it still took great mental effort to get myself to try it. All it took was one bite of cake and a nibble of Tootsie Roll poop and even the thought of kitty litter couldn't stop us from finishing the whole thing.
After eating there was so much goofing off that we had a difficult time getting the kids to focus on making the treats. We finally decided to let those play who wanted to play and those who wanted to make treats could.
Finally, after we ate our share, we had enough treat plates full of donut monsters and toothy mouths to take Booing to neighbors.
Our family chose two families to Boo and the Hinckley family chose two families from their ward to Boo. We loaded up in the vans and headed off to the first family. It was difficult to hide two vehicles and get twelve people hidden before we left our goody treat on the doorstep, knocked and ran. At the first two houses we had to bribe dogs to not give us away. Among the loading and unloading of the vans we had smothered laughs, a couple scraped knees, frozen noses, constant shushing and yet we still managed to gift all four families.
Nathan was so excited for general conference that he couldn't fall asleep Friday night. I thought I would tire him out by having him help me clean up the basement and pack all of our conference party stuff downstairs.
However, his excitement escalated to hyper and it was nearly 11pm before he fell asleep.
At the beginning of each session we had a buffet of food favorites to keep our mouths quietly occupied so that our ears and minds could focus on the spiritual buffet offered to us.
The food even lured Levi into the family room with us on Sunday morning and with the help of the food, Daymia's presence and some really good talks, Levi stayed with us for the rest of the day.
He even surprised us in the days ahead with comments like, "I thought it was funny to hear about President Eyring's parents" or "what Elder Oaks said was pretty profound". I thought he was just with us for the food and Daymia but evidently a few more important things caught his attention.
This time we did the apostle treats as mystery bags.
Last April we had interruptions with those who didn't like the labeled apostle treat bugging those who were trying to listen. This way, they didn't know what the treat was so they took notes or at least sat quietly just in case it was one of their favorites. Derek even suggested that for the April sessions we have unlabeled bags for the members of the Seventy who speak.
Conference just gets sweeter and sweeter!
By the time our conference weekend was over we had wrappers, abandoned blankets, juice boxes, bingo cards, crayons, color pages, and dirty dishes cluttering the room but more importantly, we had our minds and note pages full of stories, challenges and counsel to base our family home evening lessons on for the next six months.
After having such a busy summer, September seemed a bit uneventful. We all succumbed to the school schedule looking forward to every weekend. However, no matter what schedule we are living, my boys make this life an entertaining one!
Justin's school day begins with a quick hug (at his request, which totally makes my day) as he leaves for the bus and ends with a single serving of his own making. He found a bunch of mug recipes online and experimented until he found the perfect after school single serve brownie.
Nathan and Hyrum get home around 2:45 and quickly do their homework and piano so they can have playtime together. Wrestling on the trampoline is one of their favorites. Well, they start out wrestling and then Hyrum clings to Nathan's back while Nathan spins around trying to get him off and pretty soon they just fall together laughing.
Hyrum's biggest complaint about afternoon school is that he doesn't have Nathan to play with during the mornings but every once in a while LeRoy and Levi are at the house for lunch. Levi and Hyrum can goof off just as much as Nathan and Hyrum can. On one particular lunch break my camera was sitting on the counter so they took turns taking pictures of each other.
They captured some real beauties.
Hyrum has decided that he likes to make his own lunches and after a little bit of practice has determined that he would like to be a chef when he grows up.
Surprisingly, he is quite good at selecting complimentary ingredients which has given him tasty results. This particular day he chose some late blooming raspberries from outside, a little lemon ("not too much so it's not sour"), milk, oatmeal and powdered sugar. He proudly named it Runny Raspberry Oatmeal and shared it with Levi and I.
Even with the school schedule we must do chores. Derek never complains and seems to turn every chore into some sort of fun. Like the time he hauled the food storage items from the van to the basement. He wanted to see how many pounds he could carry at once but wasn't satisfied with only using his hands.
And then there is the time he mowed the lawn and then had the brilliant idea (the kind of brilliant that usually happens when Chris is around) to tie a skateboard to the lawn mower and do laps around the circular drive.
Whether we are on a summer schedule, holiday schedule or school schedule the one thing that remains the same is our love for reading. There is always time to read.
Where we choose to read does change from time to time.
Justin and Hyrum thought Nathan's reading spot looked so comfy that they incorporated it into their own free time.
Nathan is in 2nd grade and Hyrum is in kindergarten. They are both so excited!
We went late to the annual back to school breakfast in our neighborhood. The boys wanted to have crepes instead of fruit and muffins so we ate at home and then met up with everyone else to catch the bus. Kids were busy comparing new backpacks and shoes, discussing teachers and the older kids helped the nervous younger kids get on the bus.
My "big boys"
Derek is a senior and Justin is a freshman. They weren't quite as excited for another years of school.
I twiddled my thumbs during my alone time. After spending every day of the summer with my kids, the empty hours were far more quiet than I was ready for. I was happy to see the bus coming around the corner and thrilled to see the boys running to me already talking about their day.
We sat on the grass together so that I could hear all about it. They love their teachers and the classes!
My days have since filled and my alone time is my work time. Though it was hard to send all of them off to school this year it does feel good to work while they are gone and then shut the door on work to spend the afternoon and evening hearing about their day, helping with homework and focusing on family without splitting my thoughts with what I still need to do in the office.
and I love playing the games with them (seldom a photo of that though).
When things get really quiet it is usually because of the cats, the electronics, or a brief nap.
Hyrum is not usually part of the quiet. He is always the entertainment.
Most of the time he is a superhero but every once in a while he's just some creepy character with bad teeth.
We had one of Justin's moles taken off of his scalp. It was growing little moles on it and it was itchy and irritating so it was time to get rid of - in his words - his "pregnant mole". Even doctors appointments are fun with Justin. The nurse gave him a glove to blow up but that wasn't entertaining enough for him so he put it on and did his best Michael Jackson impression.
I had been honest with him about the pain when he asked if it was going to hurt. I told him is was like getting immunizations done and that it would just be a prick, the mole would go numb and he wouldn't feel them cut it off. He seemed very calm throughout the ordeal, even joking with the nurse and doctor the whole time. On the way out he said, "I think you forgot to take into account my pain tolerance". He wasn't pretending to be tough, it was easy for him. All the joint pain he endures made getting a mole cut off seem as simple as getting a haircut.
Justin did flips and handstands in nearly every place we went this summer:
Throughout the week before Vivien left I became somewhat emotionally numb. I knew she was packing and I knew I would have to drop her off at the airport but I couldn't emotionally acknowledge that. During family pictures and the watermelon party I only focused on the joy of having us all together. By the time Sunday came it was starting to sink in. Still, I kept myself emotionally distant.
We went to church with Vivien joining us one last time. As we all sat there together while Justin gave his talk I was overcome with a great love for this family that supports and encourages one another. After sacrament meeting I thought she would go home with Bret & Erika (Bret had meeting) so that she could finish packing but instead she came to primary with me. For our welcome song (which was more of a goodbye song) the primary sang Nephi's Courage to her. After church Vivien and I went to the temple.
She took some more pictures as we walked around the grounds. It was a beautiful, hot summer day so we stopped in the shade on the north side of the temple and sat in the grass talking and overlooking the whole city. We became so comfortable, and our conversation quite in depth of each other's afterlife perspectives, that we both ended up laying in the grass. It was so peaceful and wonderful to have this time with her.
Later that afternoon we had a neighborhood picnic for one of the ladies moving out so we all went over for desserts and visiting.
And then reality smacked our emotions around. I was taking Vivien to Utah so everyone else said their goodbyes at the house. It was so hard to actually leave! The boys were crying, Vivien was crying, I was crying. Vivien and I didn't really know what to say and probably couldn't have if we knew what to say because tears were so close to the surface. Finally, she climbed in the back and slept to the comfort of her music.
We made a stop to say goodbye to Kate's family and then went on to Kara's to spend the night. We should have gone to bed early because we had to get up so early but it was our last night and we didn't want to go to bed so we watched a movie (I slept through most of it). The next morning we got to the airport in plenty of time, check in went smooth and we hung around in the check in lobby for as long as we dared before the security line started to get really long. I stayed near the line, catching a glimpse of her each time the line looped around my direction. What I really wanted to do was yank her out of the line and take her home. With my phone I captured my last live glimpses of her and then she was gone.
I stayed in the lobby so that we could text until she boarded. I didn't want to be texting while driving and I wanted every last minute with her even if it was only through text. Once she was on the plane I left the airport. Then it all became real and I could hardly see through my tears to drive. We had such a great summer! I love spending time with Vivien and as I drove the four hours home I could already feel the empty spot growing in me. It will forever be there, a holding place in my heart for Vivien. I am so very grateful for email and the international post but it just is not the same as having her hear to hug and laugh with and cry with and be silly with.
Update: Life continues. We email. Her life is busy, my life is busy. One day in November (the 15th to be exact) it really hit me how much I miss her. I ended up really crying it out for the first time since that long ride home from the airport on August 26th. Here is a copy of the email that I sent her:
I was innocently working in my office with one of my playlists going and when this song came on I completely stopped, sat back in my chair, thought of you and cried for a few minutes.
YOU are one of the most important people in my life! There are times when something funny is happening and I can almost hear your laugh mixed in with our laughter. Or, I go to get something out of your room and as soon as I open the door I pause because I'm surprised that it doesn't have your stuff in it anymore. Blogging has been a little hard because it makes me wish you were here so that we could laugh over the pictures and tell our favorite parts of the summer. At least once a week I have an empty feeling when everyone gets home from school or comes to dinner or family prayer and I realize that the empty feeling is because you are not with us. Every time we sing Nephi's Courage in Primary I almost cry. When we sing for FHE I wish you were here to giggle with us at our terrible singing voices.
And then there are silly things like cooking beef or pork and accidentally planning what you will be able to eat because you don't like beef or pork. Or, I have bread go bad because no one else will eat the rye bread with me. Going into town just isn't fun anymore. Broulims is boring. Walmart is lame. For me, Rexburg is just not the same without you.
I hope you know that I love you as one of my own children and as a best friend. You have made my life better! You have made our family better. You are part of our memories and stories and you come up frequently in conversations. We have been very iffy in our emails but it doesn't mean that I'm not thinking about you. You are in my prayers morning and night. I wonder about your studies and travels and friends and wish we had our time at night to chat while the boys are watching boy movies.
Thank you for bringing such joy to my life! This song says everything that I can't (my tears are in the way).
I love you forever!!
♥ Mom
P.S. You don't need to watch the video, it's just random pictures....just close your eyes and listen. The song is from an LDS book (Charly) that was made into a movie. I was so excited when they made the movie a few years ago because it was one of my favorite books as a teenager :D
Just a Heartbeat Away
Jenny Jordan Frogley
Dreams seem so far away
And other times just right around the corner
And I know you're gone but I'm amazed how close you feel
And we both hold on, the love we have is real
I close my eyes
And feel you near
In every dream
In every tear
In every memory
That doesn't fade away
And it feels like forever
Is just a heartbeat away.
Days may come and go
Then suddenly,oh, time won't seem to matter
There's a space between us but love can span the distance
We can reach beyond these walls until I'll be with you
