A Good Kid

There has been a whole lot of "tell me a story about when you were little" going on around here lately.  We were having a conversation at dinner on Sunday night about telling the truth and telling lies, and how hard it can be to remember the lies that you've told, and how much better it is to just always tell the truth.  The truth is easy to remember!  And of course I had a story to illustrate my point.

When I was in ninth grade I lived in Utah and we had "open campus lunch" which meant that we could leave the school and go eat lunch somewhere else and them come back to school.  And one day a much MUCH older boy- a senior boy that I think actually had a crush on my big sister- asked me if I wanted to go get some lunch with him.

And I said yes.

So we went to Taco Time (fancy!) and grabbed some lunch and on the way back to the school he asked me if knew how to drive.

And I said no.

And he asked me if I wanted to try driving his car (what a dumb thing for an older boy to ask a younger girl).

And I said yes.

So we got back to the school and he parked in teh bus parking lot, which was empty, and he parked the car and got out and handed me the keys (what was he thinking??!) and I sat in the drivers seat and got a quick lesson about driving a manual transmission car.  I took it for a few spins around the empty parking lot then pulled into a parking spot -between two cars- and put the car into park.

Then I decided I wanted to go around one more time (against his request) so I backed up, just as a POLICE CAR came around the corner!

Naturally, I was sure the police officer could tell that I was an underage driver, so I freaked out, put the car into first, turned the wheel, popped the clutch, and effectively slammed into the next car over.

Oops.

And the police car stopped right behind us and an officer got out and I'm sure I was screaming and the boy who owned the car and surely realized by now what a stupid idea it had been to let a freshman drive his car hopped out of the car.

And the officer asked, "Is this your car?"

"No," I said.  "It's his."

"But you were driving it?"  (Obviously)

"He was teaching me how to drive." (Not very effectively, clearly.)

And then he pulled out his ticket book.

"Name.... address... age?"

"15," I lied.  In my panicked mind it made more sense that if I was nearly 16, underage driving might be more okay. 

"Birthday?"

"March 8th, 1981," I lied again.  Now I had to lie again to cover up my lie!  This was not good.

It also wasn't good to have to go into the school and call my house and explain to my parents what I had done.  I don't think that boy ever talked to me again.  Not that he should have been talking to me in the first place.

A few weeks later I had to go to the county juvenile court to pay fines for driving underage, without a license.  My dad took me.  I'm sure the commander of the Army Depot was not thrilled to be found in court with his 14-year-old daughter.

I stood in front of the court and had to answer the same questions again.

"Name... address...age?"

This time I didn't lie.

"You're 14?  It says here you're 15."

"I know.  I lied."  Ooh!  Now the lie was catching up with me AGAIN and I had had enough.  Time to set the story straight.  Plus, my dad was standing next to me.  I couldn't very well lie about my age in front of him.

And as I told the story to the kids, who were all staring at me with very wide eyes, the judge peered down at me from over her huge desk and said, "Don't. lie. again.  NOW GET OUTTA MY COURT!!"

And I banged on the table and everyone jumped and Noah started crying, because that's how he is when he gets startled, even at the age of nearly 5.

My punishment was that I would not be allowed to get a drivers license in the state of Utah until I was 17.  We moved to Virginia the next year, so that punishment didn't actually happen, but boy did I learn a lesson about lying.

If you tell one lie, it leads to another so you tell two lies, to cover each other so you tell three lies and, oh brother!  You're in trouble up to your ears!

*****

Another favorite story around here is about the time that my friends and I caught a fish from the lake by our house.  We didn't know what to do with the fish because it had already died so we couldn't put it back in the water.  

So we decided to put it in a mailbox.

The girl whose mailbox we put it in wasn't our good friend, just someone we knew from classes at school, but we thought she would be surprised and laugh when she saw a dead fish in her mailbox.  

What we didn't know was that she was out of town for a week, and it was middle of the hot summer, and the fish sat in her mailbox for a really long time, cooking and rotting in the hot summer sun. 

So when she got home there was a big, stinky fish mess in her mailbox and they probably had to throw the mailbox away because of what we did. 

We got into a lot of trouble for that.

*****

The kids love to hear these stories (and I've got plenty of them to share!) but one of them asked me in all sincerity and with wide eyes, "Mommy, were you a bad kid?"

Which made me smile because the easy answer is yes I was!

But I answered more truthfully, and said, "No!  I was a good kid who sometimes made bad choices, just like you." 

Not that they've done anything against the law just yet (or ever, hopefully) but every kids needs to know that they are a good kid.  

Even when they make bad choices.

The Best Dog We Never Had

Truman is moving to Idaho next week.  He came for one last overnight visit and the kids have loved it.  He's a perfect companion for playing hide-and-seek.

And tug-of-war.

He keeps an eye out on what's going on in the neighborhood.

He's really made himself at home over the last few years.

Really, really at home.

And he tolerates the kids so well. Look!  A literal dog pile!

He's the best dog we've never had.  He's well trained, cuddly, and isn't big enough to scare anyone. 

When he gets underfoot I just pick him up and relocate him.

And, when he barks at the doorbell and digs through the trash and chews through dirty laundry, he's a great reminder for our family that dogs aren't all fun and games. But they sure are sweet to have around.  I think Adam and Noah would like to have a dog of our own, Emma is on the fence, Leah is a definite NO ("he's so annoying!  I'd rather have a squishy cute little baby!"...not going to happen, sis), and Jason and I are on the fence.  We sure do like our family just the way it is these days, but a dog would definitely add another element of work and play and love.  For now, the jury is still out on this one. 

(November 2015, our first visit together)

Thanks for all the good memories Trumy!!  We're going to miss having a pseudo-puppy of our own.

 

Rhi-Son-Er-Rus

That's a lot of syllables to get straight!

Tour de Stake

"Congregations of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints are organized geographically and members attend worship services near their home.  Each member belongs to a stake.  The leader of the stake is called the stake president.  The word stake is taken from Old Testament tent imagery in which the "tent", or church is held up by supporting stakes.  Isaiah 54:2 says, "Enlarge the place of thy tent, and let them stretch forth the curtains of thine habitations; spare not, lengthen thy cords, and strengthen thy stakes"." (definition taken from lds.org)

So!  What does this neat little fact mean?  It means that no matter where a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints goes, there is a congregation waiting for them.  No church shopping, no pastor comparing, no need to examine the doctrine to see if it aligns with our beliefs.  The church is a worldwide church, and it is the same everywhere.  

(The stake center, located in West Des Moines.  Home to the Beaver Creek ward, the West Des Moines ward, and the Spanish branch, and we've visited and made friends in all of them!) 

We currently receive email reports from missionaries serving in Alaska, Arizona, Washington, Paris, Ontario, Colorado, Barcelona, Mongolia, Utah, New Mexico, California, and Guatemala, and they are all preaching the same gospel of Jesus Christ.  It's an amazing thing!

As a child I saw first hand the blessings of being a member of a worldwide church.  From Alabama to Seattle, Rhode Island to Washington DC, Utah to New York, every time we moved there was a congregation waiting for us.  And the gospel truths were the same every place we went.  That always eased our fears in moving to a new town.  There is great comfort in knowing that the restored gospel of Jesus Christ is spread throughout the world!

(The Newton Branch- the building was beautiful!  And the branch was tiny tiny tiny.  I think there were 40 people in sacrament meeting including our family of 6, and maybe 5 other children there.  But the members were happy and welcoming.  Everywhere we go members seem happy to meet us, which is really nice, considering they have no clue who we are.) 

We have lived in Iowa for five years now, so our kids understanding of this amazing reality has been rather limited.  They are occasionally the new kid at Grandma's ward or bring a cousin with them to church while they're visiting, but for the most part our kids have not seen a variety of saints or meetinghouses that are out there.  The doctrine is the same, the hymns and the sacrament and the callings are the same, but there is always a bit of a difference from one ward to the next.  And the kids hadn't really had the opportunity to experience that.  Until now!  

When Jason was called to be stake president, we decided to tour the stake with him as often as we can, both so we can get to know the member that we're serving and to give our kids the opportunity to see what the church looks like beyond the Rock Creek Ward.  And we have finished round one of our tour!

(The Oskaloosa branch- at 1 hour and 20 minutes from our home, this branch gets the prize for farthest unit.  The church is happy and strong here- the branch was nearly as big as a ward.) 

Some wards were close enough that we only stayed for sacrament meeting then hurried back to our own ward for Primary- I'm still the pianist and the kids always love being with their teachers and friends- but some units are far enough away that we made a day out of it and stayed the full three hours.  Those are my favorite days! Being the new kid is no easy thing, but what better way to teach the skills of being new than by taking our kids to a new ward.  It makes my military brat heart sing.

(Red Rock Branch- serves Knoxville and Pella areas, and is the smallest and most outdated building in our stake.  Also holds some really amazing members- so kind and welcoming, and so faithful.)

And they did really great!  In some cases they doubled the size of the Primary, in some wards they were just one of many new faces for the day.  But in every unit they introduced themselves and got a taste of what being the new kids feels like, if for nothing else than to learn the compassion I want them to have for new kids that cross their paths, whether at church or at school or wherever they got.  It's so important to know that there are people who are longing for a friendly face to reach out to them.

(The Easter Lake Building- home to the Des Moines ward and a ward from the Mount Pisgah Stake.  This ward had the most ethnic diversity of the stake, as could be expected from the biggest city of the stake!) 

I'd guess that the kids would still prefer the comfort of our home ward, but they can be proud of themselves for trying something new- a whole bunch of times!  And now we all know a bit more about the members in our stake that we are all serving.  We'll continue to visit the other units when we can, but for now, we're feeling very accomplished about visiting all of the 10 units in our stake.

(The Ankeny building- home to the two Ankeny wards and the young single adult branch.  Home sweet home that I forgot to take a picture of all of the kids in, but Leah's smile is a perfect representation of how happy the kids are to be in their home ward after visiting other units.  Absence makes the heart grow fonder!) 

It's A Beautiful Day...

Well, it wasn't entirely beautiful.  It was sunny, then windy, then rainy, then cloudy, then really rainy.... and then it was beautiful again.

 Leah rode her bike to school this morning.  I rode over to join her on the rainy ride home, but it was really pouring, and our sweet friend rescued Leah, and then me, and then we had to go back later to rescue my abandoned bike and trailer.  I hope that Leah never questions her mother's love for her ever.

 And then all the rainy clouds left us with a beautiful sunset, which made for a perfect night of roller blading.  

 Because Leah and I are cool on our one-on-one dates like that.

The Quietest Thing

Frances went into Mother and Father's room.

They were asleep.

Frances stood by Father's side of the bed very quietly, 

right near his head.

She was so quiet that she was the quiestest thing in the room.

She was so quiet that Father woke up all of a sudden, 

with his eyes wide open.

He said, "Umph!"

It's pretty rare that we have mid-night interruptions anymore.  There was a time that I thought Noah would never sleep in his own bed, but he's my best sleeper now.  Last week he begged to go to bed at 7:00, where he happily snoozed until 7:00 the next morning.  We still nap most days.  Everyone gets a reasonable amount of sleep most nights. 

But last night bedtime was a circus.  Gallons of pent up energy were spilling out of all of the kids before bedtime, at bedtime, and after bedtime.

Noah was in tears because I didn't tuck him in properly. 

Leah was worried because she spent more time preparing for her math test and her honors choir audition than for her science test.

Emma wanted to chat and chat and chat, and stalled my exit by asking questions like, "What would we do if you and Daddy both died?  What would happen to us kids?"

Adam snuggled right into bed and pretended to head to sleep, although we both knew full well that he was going to dive under the covers and read a few of the last chapters of Harry Potter book 7 before he went to sleep.  But he wakes up bright eyed and bushy tailed every morning, so I don't stop him.

Eventually everyone was  in bed for good.  I spent a few hours enjoying the quiet of the night, Jason kept chiseling away at his mountain of work, and then we headed to bed.  Separately, as is usually the case.

And then sometime in the middle of the night, the quietest thing came and stood next to my head.

She was so quiet that I woke up all of a sudden and said, "Umph!" 

And Emma explained that she had a bad dream and needed to sleep in our bed.

And I mumbled yes and fell back to sleep.

And then another one of the quietest things came and stood next to my head.

And he was so quiet that I woke up all of a sudden and said, "Umph!" 

And Adam explained that his foot hurt and his leg hurt (a common complaint as he's currently growing like a weed).

So I got him some medicine and he got a drink and then got back into bed and I turned off the girls nightlight because it shines bright in my room even though it's at the other end of the hall and I got back into bed, which was a bit more crowded because of Emma, and I went back to sleep.

And I smiled because somehow the quietest thing in the room always manages to be the thing that also robs me of my sleep.

And because I still nap during the day. 

Sweet sleep.

Not Fall

I'm strangely adamant about not celebrating seasons/holidays/birthdays until it is actually time to do so.  Even if it is the next one on the calendar, Adam is not allowed to start making plans about his July birthday the minute my March birthday is over.  We don't gear up for Halloween until after Noah's birthday has passed (we're not spending more time preparing for Halloween than we do for Christmas, people), and even though school is in session, it is not officially fall around here until September 22nd.  

Everyone loves fall.  I love fall.  We fell in love in the fall.  But spring is really the best season of all.  It reminds us of the resurrection of Jesus Christ, it means that the long, dreary winter is over and it means that the best outdoor months of the year are upon us!  Fall simply means that the long, dreary winter is coming again... and by golly it is not fall yet.  

But somehow, here we are again.

 Jumping into the corn pool.

 Again and again.

 And again.

 And getting buried in the corn and finding it later in the strangest places.

 And sitting on tractors, and racing tractors, and climbing up and shooting down the big slides in potato sacks again (I should probably keep a closer eye on Adam so he doesn't curl himself up in a ball, tuck himself entirely inside his sack and then pitch himself headfirst down the slide again.  Boy is that boy nine).

 And we're sipping on frozen apple cider, knowing full well that by the time our season pass expires we'll be thirsty for hot apple cider instead.

 Here we are again!  At the best place in Central Iowa to spend the too-short fall evenings.

And thanks to our season pass, we're going to go as often as we'd like. 

 To check out things that we've never done here before, like this little train.

And this big one. 

It may not be fall yet (I'm clinging to these last five days of summer with all my might!), but I can already tell that this fall is going to be a good one!

 And maybe a drop from the 90 degree weather would be a good thing, too.

Isms

Emma- Mommy, you must be tired.  Your makeup is all droopy.

*****

Similarly, both of the girls freaked out yesterday while we were all getting ready for church.

You have two gray hairs on your head Mommy!  TWO GRAY HAIRS!!!

*****

Who needs a mirror when you've got observant children?

Entertaining himself at the store, Noah told me he needed me to take a picture of him in "dees furs".

*****

Noah, while snuggling on the couch with me post-nap, farted.

M- Did you just fart on me?

N, giggling- No.... but I farted AT you!

*****

While I was sitting with a blanket around my legs.

Mommy, are you still wearing pants?

*****

With his feet buried in the sand of the creek-

Mommy!  Can you guess where the other half of my feet went??

*****

A friend of mine asked Noah what he wants to be when he grows up-

N- Either an astronaut or a seal.

Friend- You mean.... like a Navy Seal?

N- Nope, like a baby seal. 

This same friend put her hamster in the sandbox that her son and Noah were playing in.  It was so fun watching the hamster dig around, and I fully expected Noah to tell me he wants a hamster for our family.

N- She's so cute!  I wish I was a hamster!

*****

The after school hour is always an adjustment for Noah, as it means that other children are now present and want to talk to me.  While I was sitting on the couch with Adam, Noah sat down and wanted to start up his own conversation.  I told him I was having a chat with Adam and would chat with him next.

As soon as we finished up he tap tap tapped me on the arm and declared, Chat me Mommy!  You need to chat me now!

*****

Similarly, Noah was in tears tonight because I didn't give him "a good enough good night.  You didn't ask me about my day or scratch my back", he said while stroking my cheeks and lovingly smoothing down my ponytail.  So I tucked him back into bed and asked him all about his day, after which he sweetly asked, "and how was your day?"

Such a good boy.

Raingutter Regatta

This year Adam modeled his boat after Lloyd's Mech Dragon from LEGO Ninjago.  The Chinese characters say his name and "scout".

 I'd say his expectations were slightly lower this year than they were last year.  Some rounds were won, some were lost, but overall he was a good sport and gave it his best.

And he won third place!  It was a well earned prize for a job well done.  Way to go Adam!

ARRRRRRGGGG

ARRRRRRn't you glad you have a brother to play with!?

Camping in Minnesota

After our horrible camping fail over Memorial Day, we were determined to have a fun camping adventure over Labor Day.  And we did!  

There was a lot of rain that weekend.

Despite the gloomy weather and formidable forecast, we headed north to an island in Minnesota, quickly set up camp and had just enough time to explore the shore of the lake before the sun went down.

The island we stayed on was beautiful!  

There were tons of shells and pretty rocks on the beach that Emma wanted to collect the whole time we were there.  Everyone else split their time between the tent, the fire and the hammock.

Oh the hammock!  The highlight of the trip!  Perfect for napping,

 tree-gazing,

snuggling,  

flapping like a butterfly, 

and whatever this flying cocoon thing is that the kids invented.

Now we all wish we had the perfect spot for a hammock in our yard, but all of our trees are too close together or too far apart, or too small to support any weight.

The braid triplets!  This was our first time camping for more than one night and it was really nice not having to worry about doing our hair.

After we set up camp, ate dinner, and tried to spot some planets through our telescope, everyone was ready to sleep for the night.  The rain started sometime in the middle of the night.  Jason and I lay awake listening to it fall on the trees and try to decide how wet we were really getting.  Against our better judgement, we had left the hammock and the chairs out, as well as most of our shoes.  There were big muddy puddles all around the campsite in the morning, but we did our best to stay dry and Jason put up a tarp canopy over our picnic table so we could have a dry breakfast.

These breakfast pictures were from the second day but it was basically the same look both mornings.  Soggy but happy!

The first morning the three of us girls got up early and went for a walk in the last drizzle of the storm, where we first found The Judging Tree.  I'm not sure how we didn't get a picture of that, since we walked past it three times.  It was a broken down tree that looked just like a disapproving face.  After breakfast we all cleaned up a bit and took a hike as a family.

 So many walking sticks!

The rain cleared up and the paths were just beautiful.  We really hit the jackpot with this camping trip- perfect temperatures, no rain during the day and not hot enough to miss the indoors at all.

We saw lots of animals- bald eagles, golden eagles, fish, white cranes, turtles, a tiny green frog, and this scraggly looking deer-

that we got pretty close to before it darted away.

And there were so many fallen logs to climb!

And then we headed back to our campsite for lunch.  It really was so nice not having to take down our campsite just hours after we had put it up.

After lunch and a bit of quiet time (I think Daddy is the only one who actually slept in the tent, but the rest of us had a great time swinging on the hammock and resting in the camp chairs), we headed back over to the lake for some canoeing and fishing.

The skies were cloudy but not rainy.  It was perfect!

First the girls went out, 

in search of one of the flocks of white cranes that we had spotted all over the lake.

But we didn't get very close to them.  It was still fun seeing them fly around the lake though!

 And then the boys handed us the fishing poles and went out on the canoe while the girls went fishing.

But we didn't catch anything either.

Except for a few perfect pictures.

Once the boys got back Daddy loaded up the three big kids in the canoe.  They paddled around the island one more time, and ended up back on the campsite side of the island.  What a trip!

Noah tried for a few more fish with no luck.

So we settled on tin foil dinners instead.  Everyone ate a ton and claimed that it was the best meal ever.  What is it about campfire food that makes something so plain so very delicious?

And then we sat and shared stories (It was a dark and stormy night!) and stoked the fire, and eventually started to fall asleep.  It had been a busy day!

Look at those squishy baby lips!

These two were the first asleep, and kept right on sleeping when we put them into the tent.  We didn't think they would like to be outside all night.

and all four of the kids stayed asleep all through the night, even though the storm was even worse the second night!  Jason and I spent another night listening to the rain fall, and this time there was thunder and lightning and wind that shook the tent and rattled the zippers so we were both sure someone or something was trying to get into our tent.  It was a storm that we wouldn't have thought twice of at home, but on the floor of the forest it was enough to keep us up for most of the night.  But we were mostly grateful that the kids were fast asleep, and everyone stayed dry.

In the morning we ate another delicious-because-it's-camp-food-breakfast, then broke down our campsite and headed east to some caves!  We planned the trip just right because it did rain on and off all throughout the day, but that didn't matter one bit because we were in a cave!

 

The tour ended at the beautiful Turquoise Lake, which is 10 feet deep in the most colorful spot.

 It was chilly in there, but it was a fun tour!

And after that, we drove the three hours back home, with a stop at our favorite northern BBQ place for dinner along the way.  That was the deal- camping should always end with a big tasty meal- cooked by someone else!

I always smile at the reactions from people when they hear we are a camping family.  Maybe if we had a cabin we wouldn't be campers, but maybe not.  Camping is always it's own kind of adventure.

Things I love about camping-

1. Unplugging from screens, technology, the false busy-ness of the world that distracts us from the things that matter most.

2. The snuggliness of it all- close quarters in the tent, holding hands while we walk down the paths, cuddles in the hammock, even cramming into the car so we can get ourselves and all the gear to the campsite.  We are physically closer when we are camping.

3- Leaving so much behind- the excess stuff that has to be cleaned and tidied and sorted and dealt with.  Camping makes my minimalist heart sing.

4- And leaving behind the responsibilities of daily life.  Work, school, callings are all put on hold when we take the time to get away together.  This is true on any family getaway.

5- Recognizing that we can have fun and meaningful family adventures for very little cost.  Not every vacation has to be a cruise in the Bahamas to be a great one.

6- Appreciating nature- we feel closer to Heavenly Father and all of His creations when we take time to be in nature.  We try so hard to make the most out of living in the Midwestern states of fields and very little national parks.  But we definitely hit the jackpot this time and will continue to search for the things that make the Midwest it's own kind of incredible beauty!

7- Being together!  The conversations and the slower pace and the peaceful family togetherness that is so hard to recreate at home.

And that's why we keep up our camping tradition every year!

(Things I don't love about camping, because let's be honest here- bugs, spiders, poor sleep, inconsiderate campsite neighbors (which we didn't have any of this time around, thankfully), dirt, and the giant mountain of smokey laundry that comes home with us.  But it's all worth it!)