It’s been since before Halloween that I’ve posted anything. I keep hoping that life will slow down a little and that I’ll blog more; but we have yet to see that. Probably what needs to happen (if I truly want this as a consistent family history) is that I’ll need to just blog more even though nothing is slowing down. 🙂

Anyway, I think I’ll do the kind of post where my text mostly doesn’t have much to do with the pictures, and the pictures will just have all their commentary in the description.

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My theme word for 2019 was Laugh. I chose that word for a few reasons: I have heard that people in general laugh significantly less nowadays than they did in like 1950 or something like that, and felt like that was about as much of an invitation as I needed to resolve to laugh more. Another big reason I chose laugh was that I felt like I needed a little break from huge life-altering stuff. Engage in 2018 was a huge success, and I grew so much–not just because of the theme; but because of life. But I was feeling kind of tired by the end of the year. I felt like laughing more would be a great way to enjoy my life more in the moment without having to think too hard.

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I feel like it worked! With my theme words, I definitely don’t think about them every single day. And I probably went weeks at a time not thinking about laugh. But a big change I saw was that I noticed much more when I was laughing, and I embraced it a little more than I otherwise would have. So, this past year, I can recall multiple occasions where I just laughed and laughed for probably up to a minute about something, just because I started and it felt really good, so I didn’t do anything to suppress it.

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I really like that sort of notion: that if something is feeling good–even if it’s not the norm in the world, or even your norm–you can just embrace it and just sort of see how long it will last. Obviously, you want to make sure it is truly and thoroughly good; and I see no harm in genuine, happy, lighthearted laughter. Maybe that’s a little bit of what I’m doing with these yearly themes. So far I’ve had a lot of fun and feelings of satisfaction and success with them, so I’ll just keep going until I don’t have as much fun and success with them.

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I’ve been thinking of a new word for next year, and I’m trying to be ambitious and yet realistic about it. We’re having another baby next spring and I know that just that fact will limit a lot of what I can physically accomplish. But I feel like it is also an opportunity for me to try to become something more, even if I can’t do that much. (I have a whole spiel about that; but perhaps another day.)

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Josh’s mom gave me a kitchen towel that says that on it, and it is just too perfect not to reuse! Thanks Mom!

Anyway, we’ve been doing all the fun things–going to a pumpkin patch, driving up the canyon to look at fall colors, eating all the treats, witches at Gardner Village, decorating!, Halloween parties, planning Josh’s amazing extravaganza,practicing songs and dances for the Christmas season, reading autumn and Halloween books, wearing sweaters as well as festive outfits, rolling up as toilet-paper mummies, eating soups, playing soccer, etc. Here are some pictures!

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The last image deserves some serious commentary. The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter Day Saints has recently reworked its youth program. Fay turns 8 next year and so is old enough to participate! We are all very excited! The program focuses on the areas of personal development mentioned in Luke 2:52 where it says that “Jesus increased in wisdom and stature and in favor with God and man.” The children and youth are encouraged to make a goal in at least one of the areas: intellectual, physical, spiritual, and social. Fay was super excited about everything and made at least one goal in each area. Her choice for a goal in the intellectual category was to make cupcakes! (The church is true, people.) She ultimately wants to become independent at making beautiful, delicious cupcakes of various flavors. It is a fun goal for the whole family! This past Sunday, she made her first batch of cupcakes with mom assisting with the cake part, and dad assisting with the frosting. Fay chose the type of cupcakes she wanted to make and which recipe to follow. And we tried to allow her to do as much of the work as possible. They turned out beautifully and deliciously! We are so proud of Fay for making a goal and working towards it, and grateful for the opportunity we have to do it with her, as a family!

Also, this video is super cute!

Summer is busy. Here’s a tiny taste of how busy.

Disney Cruise!

We went with some of my family, courtesy of my fabulously generous parents, on a Disney Cruise to Alaska! It was beyond amazing! The scenery was beautiful, the entertainment delightful, the food delicious and abundant; but my favorite part of the experience was just being treated so nicely the entire time! All of the staff were SUPER conscious of our every need, and wanted nothing more than to meet them all! It made me want to a) Go on another cruise so I could have that treatment again, and b) Treat other people a little more like that.

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It was so much fun! Thanks, Mother and Daddy!

Josh’s Trip to Hawaii

Josh’s family took a trip to Hawaii, courtesy of HIS fabulously generous parents, right when the kids were starting school; and we had kind of consigned ourselves to the tragedy that we just wouldn’t be able to go. But then it occurred to me that SOMEone could go, if not all of us. So Josh took a much needed break from life and partied in Hawaii with his fam! It was basically as paradisaical as you would imagine! I’m so glad he got the chance to go!

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While Josh was gone, the kids and I partied at home!

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We really had a fun time while Josh was gone, but everything is definitely better when he’s here!

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Other fun things have happened, too. But these are the events that really stick out to me. And I’m happy to have finally blogged about them so that we can remember them extra!

I am SO behind on blogging! Also everything. But I really don’t want to quit the blog (though I DO want to quit the laundry) because it is such a fun family history to have! So I’m trying to do at least some justice to all the goings on of the past month.

First up, Oregon!

We took our family vacation to the Oregon coast this year and had a blast. It was a lot of driving; but lots of great memories too! We were privileged to have with us Josh’s sister Rosie and her husband Tyler. They were so much fun to hang out with, and helped us get far more family pictures than we otherwise would have gotten!

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A super brief summary of the trip: We drove to Manzanita, Oregon by way of Boise, Idaho. Manzanita is a super cute beach-town where we enjoyed the farmers’ market, beaching, all the organic things at the grocery store, and our beautiful little AirB&B house. I got a stomach bug one of the days and so missed the super cool excursion to the Tillamook Cheese Factory. We went to another cute, larger, beach-town to see a really cool aquarium and try out a place called “The Inverted Experience.” That is where we took all our fancy, crazy pictures. We drove back via Twin Falls, Idaho and we stopped to see Shoshone Falls, which was absolutely majestic!

Such a wonderful experience!

Next Up, Everyday Life

Last Friday, Josh’s mom hosted “Camp Grandma” where she took the three big kids for 27 hours of epic Grandma, Grandpa, Uncle Jayden partying! They did crafts, played games, watched movies, ate party food, and played in swimming pools. When we showed up for the ending party, Portia let out a giant wail and cried “I don’t want to go home!”

But we missed her about as much as she missed us. Josh and I felt like we were on a giant date having just one kid around. And yet Helen got more personal attention than she has ever gotten in her whole life. We had a lunch date with Josh, some real play-time for Helen and me, went to the nickel arcade, and even cleaned the house!

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I try to do something fun with the kids at least SOME of the days each week. (They do NOT consider grocery shopping to be “a fun thing.”) I think we’ve done some pretty cool things this month.

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I remember summer being such a fun, happy time growing up; and I know that was because my Mother worked very hard to take us to do fun things. I hope my kids can remember summer as a fun, active, family time, not as the boring, hot time when the only place they go is WinCo. 🙂

But I’ll admit, sometimes, as the parent, you just get a little worn out by all the fun, and you end up like this.

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We are definitely filling up our summer, and loving it!

Happy Official Beginning of Summer! I have thoroughly enjoyed how long we got actual spring weather this year!

The first three weeks of June have been busy for us. I could go into all sorts of detail; but it would take me forever. So I won’t. But I do want to remember some things, so I have some pictures I’ll comment on, and we’ll call it good!

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First, we’ll mention Father’s Day. Josh always asks for the same thing for Father’s Day (and I try really hard to give it to him; but it doesn’t happen every year): an updated picture of the kids and me for his desk at work. Here is this year’s picture! Thank goodness for picnic tables and camera timers!

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Josh also has his birthday in June! He is now 31 years old! He is lucky because now he’s officially “in his 30s.” One day, when I’m “in my 30s” people will take me seriously and stop telling me I look like a teenager!

Anyway, Josh’s birthday turned out to be a little bit of a bummer. He was recovering from a stomach bug and had zero appetite for his whole birthday! 🙁 3/4ths of the fun of birthdays is that you get to eat all the delicious things you want, and he missed out! Fortunately, we went out for dinner the next day and we’ll get him his birthday dessert sometime soon. Happy Birthday, the Hon!

On June 21, courtesy of the Lydes, we celebrated Swedish midsummer with family and friends! We had a Maypole, traditional Swedish style foods, a raffle for those who picked weeds, and a flower-crown craft! It was beyond delightful! I’m so glad we did it!

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Last weekend I went to California with Christina for Paige Muhlestein’s wedding. It was so fun to spend some time with Steemer and get to see Paige and Peter so happy together at the start of their eternity. Plus, I got to meet some really fun, cool people.

But while I was gone, Josh made sure the kids didn’t miss me! He took them to two different decor stores and let them pick out stuff to redecorate their rooms (way more and way cooler stuff than I ever would have done, because he’s the fun parent)!

The rooms have been: Fay and Carter in the cream colored room with the brown bed, and Portia and Helen in the gray room with the white bed and the crib. But Josh did tons of work and moved the white bed into the cream room along with every girly thing we had, plus all the girly things they got and made it Fay and Portia’s girl room. It is really cute and fun and girly!

Carter and Helen are now sharing the gray bedroom with the dark wood bed and crib. He also got “boy-themed” stuff to decorate it as well as all the blue and green stuff we already had. Helen probably has at least another 2 years before she will care anything about the decor of her room, and Carter is thrilled to finally have a space not curated by Fay. His favorite thing about his new decor is the clock he chose himself.

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So those are the major events that are recent enough for me to recall and have the mental capacity to write about. 🙂 Now, I’ll just share some every-day sort of stuff.

Helen made sure to make the most of her new room situation…

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The other day, I had put the kids down for a nap while I took some (much needed) time for myself to read scriptures and other books. I was so enjoying my last few chapters of Emma that I didn’t pay much attention to the fact that Helen never went to sleep. The reason turned out to be that she had a stinky diaper; but the problem was what she did to entertain herself while unable to fall asleep.

What she did was reach over to the changing table (which is now next to her crib because of the room-change), manage to open the giant tub of petroleum jelly, and smear it all. over. everything. Look again at the picture and notice everywhere she got it. Her shirt was SATURATED! I am still trying to decide which of the affected items are worth enough to me to really work to get the stuff out. Only time will tell.

Our ward Elders quorum had a cook-off where everyone was supposed to make their own food. There was all kinds of talk about it being a grilling/smoking sort of experience because “men don’t use kitchens” (etc, etc). Hearing that sort of garbage made Josh and I both want to show everybody what a real man can do in the kitchen. Josh made these Oreo-truffles and has now become a legend… again (see Halloween/Ugly Sweater Contests). I’m so proud of my real man!

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Today we had a crisis. Carter took Helen’s swing while she was unawares because she was eating ice-cream. It was … the worst thing that could’ve happened.

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Also, there’s Portia. This girl has all the opinions and all the imagination.

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This is “Suki”, age 7 about to turn 6, right after she went to the “salon” where the “salon-boy, Billy B. McKessen” did her hair (Josh did those pig-tails!!! I told you he was a real man!) Her mother (me) is named “Jamanda” and her little brother (Helen) is named Jackson and is in Joy School. Her dog (Charlotte) is a boy dog named “Noodle.” Her first dad died. 🙁 Her second dad was about to be born and his name was “Phil.” She insisted that everybody stay in character with her. We indulged her for quite a while. But it turned out good: because I called her “Suki” she put up no fuss about saying her prayer tonight.

If everything about our life seems ridiculous: it totally is! But it is also totally fun and wonderful!

Last Saturday was a day I want to remember. It was such a happy day, full of simple joy with my little family! So I’m going to record the story.

It really was so simple and great! We started the morning on the later side (ie: sleeping in). We had a leisurely breakfast followed by heading outside to work in the garden. The garden had overgrown a crazy amount and was totally filled with weeds. But the soil was nice and moist down almost a foot it seemed because of all the rain we have gotten! So after just a couple hours of work–in sunny 65 degree weather!–we had the whole thing beautifully cleared, tilled, mulched (with mulch from our giant juniper bush which is no more), and even the first few plants in the bed! The kids helped some and played a lot. And everybody was very satisfied by the end. After gardening, we had a simple lunch of leftovers and whatever and did a few chores around the house. Never in a rush, just enjoying Saturday. Then we went to the store to buy the rest of our plants and got frozen yogurt afterwards. When we got out of the car to get the frozen yogurt, we smelled pizza from the pizzeria nearby and decided to get pizza after our frozen yogurt! It was fun to have dessert before dinner! After eating our pizza at home, we went and planted the new plants we had bought, and then did bedtime.

It was just such a great, satisfying, happy day! I’m so grateful that I periodically get to have days like that!

Anyway, this past week was the last of school! Carter has now “graduated” from preschool and Fay says she is officially no longer a first grader! Here are some pictures!

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We got to go to Fay’s first-grade awards ceremony. She earned the school’s “Eagle Award.” We are so proud of all the things she has learned this year, and most especially how good of a friend and student she has been at school.

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After the school year had officially ended on Friday at about 12:15 PM, Josh was well prepared with his famed “Summer Kickoff Party.” He planned everything: decorations, activities, food, etc. It was a blast!

He started off with a mini escape-room type experience for the kids. They had to find the key that would open the door to the garage. When they finally got in, the garage was decked out as an island paradise! He had made a big tree for the middle of the room, and had greenery and the food on one side of the garage. The other side was lit up with blue lights and had balloon bubbles and sea-creature toys all around. And fun island/jungle music was playing.

We had a delicious lunch of croissant-crab sandwiches, fresh fruit, and little ocean-in-a-cup treats, along with various snacks. While we ate, we danced, rode scooters, and rejoiced in the arrival of summer. Josh is so cool! I’m so glad he is the daddy for my cuties!

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We’re definitely excited for summer break! But, I must confess, I am LOVING this rainy, cool weather we’re having! May it go on all the way through June!

Here are some videos that I thought would be fun to remember. They are funny examples of what kids do to entertain themselves. And they are very entertaining to me!

This is a video I shared before, but I just don’t feel like it got the appreciation it deserves. This was Portia last summer. Fay or Carter was playing on the piano, and I feel like the music kind of adds. Helen does NOT fall off the chair. 🙂

This is the only video I have of Fay recently. I need more videos of her exciting adventures and ideas. She is always up to something exciting!

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Fay turned 7 on May 7th! It’s very exciting to me! But what’s even more exciting is Fay, herself! Fay truly is something special. When Fay made Josh and I parents, her debut was quite remarkable! And she continues to be remarkable in so much of what she does!

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One remarkable thing about our Fay-miss is how great a friend she is. She works hard to be kind to all she meets, and truly cherishes her friends. Her teacher has told me that when Fay finishes her work at school, she will frequently go and help others who are still working. She makes time to be a friend to each of her siblings in a unique way and loves each of them. She loves to make others happy and brighten any day. This is one of Fay’s traits of which I am most proud. I am so grateful for her example to her siblings and parents of caring for those around her.

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Fay is also, and has always been, an artist! She adores coloring, drawing, writing stories, imagining new worlds to play in, painting nails, dressing up, and all crafts. She makes sure there is never a dull moment at our house; because as soon as there is a lull in the action, she will think of a brilliant way to create something beautiful and wonderful to do! It is a thrill to watch her vibrant imagination in action!

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Another thing that makes Fay remarkable is just her sheer energy. She has always been that kid at the park who just starts running back and forth across the grass and gets other kids to run with her. She wakes up most mornings ready to play and imagine and do anything except get ready for an ordinary day of school. But once she’s stepped out of the car and onto the sidewalk of the school yard, she runs to meet her friends with a super-enthusiastic hug! When she returns from a long day at school, she is again always ready to jump right into playing with her siblings. She just goes and goes!

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I have touched on this some already, but one thing I just couldn’t live without is Fay’s approximately-perfect execution of her role as oldest sibling. She loves, plays with, cares for, encourages, and sets an example for her younger siblings. She is so willing to help me with the other cuties and with other household tasks. She is so responsible and eager to learn! I am immensely thankful that Heaven sent me Fay as the oldest!

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As I’m thinking about Fay and who she is, as well as the other 3 birthday posts I have made recently, I am overwhelmed with gratitude for these beautiful people I have for my children! They are each unique; but they are each so good! I tell them all the time that I don’t know how I got to be so lucky, but Heavenly Father really did send me the four BEST spirits He had. I am so thankful, but also humbled by the privilege and responsibility I have to ultimately send them back to Him as good and better than He sent them to me. Thankfully, I’m not doing it alone! I have Christ; I have Josh; and I even have Fay! I love her to the moon and back!

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We enjoyed lots of festivities for Easter including studying the Holy Week in Come Follow Me (which the whole family really did have fun with), attending delicious Easter meals and hunts, and dressing up for the occasion. (As a side note: I didn’t get around to really decorating the mantel. I put my adorable ceramic bunnies up along with the new sign Josh got me, but that’s as far as I got. 🙁 )

I have been super excited for my Easter dress since about February when my inspiration hit. But, for the same reason the mantel never got decorated, it almost didn’t come together. (That reason is: life.) But, as I learned last year, God truly is interested in my priorities and He provided multiple miracles that helped my dream dress come true!

Back in February, it hit me that what I wanted for Easter was white gloves. Not big long formal ones, but super classy wrist length gloves. I started searching pinterest for ways to create an outfit around white gloves and I found Jackie Kennedy. I still don’t know much about Jackie Kennedy as a person; but after the past 3 months of looking up her outfits and use of gloves, I have to say she’s up there in my style book.

My original design for the dress was a single piece A-line dress. But one enormous mystery turned me a totally different direction. I used a pattern that I had drafted (in the past 2 months, I know, because it is on the new parchment paper I got). But after I had the whole thing constructed with darts in place, I realized it was NOT the pattern I thought it was. And I have no idea where it came from or why I drafted it. The pattern I thought I was using was very fitted, and I found that pattern later in my sewing box. The pattern I used was very loose and there was NO way I could turn it into an A-line dress. I even tried, and it was a miserable failure.

Fortunately I decided to follow a different Jackie trend and do a boxy top with a nice fitted skirt. It turned out great! Way better than I deserved! I wore pearls and a simple up-do with my gloves to further channel Jackie without having giant hair.

Anyway, here is a picture of the whole family in our Easter outfits. My smile was getting tired by the time we got everyone to look at the camera. 🙂

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We celebrated 5 wonderful years of having our boy in our family this past Sunday. (My apologies for being so late on this post.) Carter was very proud of the fact that his birthday fell on Easter this year and mentioned the fact to anyone who would listen: the primary, the clerk at the grocery store, the doctor, etc. I must admit, it is pretty great to have your birthday on a holiday!

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One of my favorite things about Carter is that he likes to be a helper. He is the first one to agree to help clean up the house or work on the yard, he will run grab Helen’s blanket for her when she’s sad , and he loves that it makes parents happy when he happily obeys. It is a huge blessing and help for me. I hope it lasts and lasts!

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Carter is a builder! He is very creative at free-building and also very patient and determined with following instructions for building things. He got some Hotwheels car tracks for Christmas and he wanted to take time to try every single different assembly. He loves to share what he has built and get it documented! I love documenting it, so it works out!

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Carter also loves super heroes (Hulk is still his favorite), coloring and drawing, and playing outside. He now prides himself on liking spicy foods, and asked for/received Cholula hot-sauce for his birthday. My favorite thing about it is that he talks all the time about how he likes spicy things and he loves Cholula; but he won’t ask for Cholula if he doesn’t want it. So he probably has it 1 in 6 times Josh and I do. I just love that he doesn’t feel like he has to prove anything to anyone by eating it when he doesn’t want it.

Here are some more moments from our joyful life with Carter.

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Once upon a time–before Carter–I thought it would be fun to have all girls. I am SO GLAD that Heavenly Father knew better! We love our boy so much and totally need his low voice, sweetness, and enthusiasm for saving the day! We just wouldn’t be complete without him.