Isn't it Ironic

In case you weren't aware, I am the only person under 65 who loves genealogy. I am. It's a dubious honor, but it can be really awesome sometimes. Check out these discoveries:

1) My 2nd Great Aunt (Flora Hannah Gibson, sister of Sarah Ellen Gibson) married Sam's 1st Cousin 5 times removed (David William Hancock, great-nephew of Levi Ward Hancock, great-grandson of Thomas Hancock).

2) My 3rd great uncle helped establish the original settlement of Brigham City, Arizona which later became Winslow, where Sam was raised. (Merlin Plumb, Jr., husband of Elizabeth Cleopatra Bellows, who is the sister of Mary Adelphia Bellows.)


3) Sam's 3rd great grandpa, Thomas E. Ricks, led two wagon trains across the plains from Florence, Nebraska to Salt Lake City, Utah, one in 1863 and the other in 1866. It just so happens that I have ancestors that traveled in each of those trains (Hadleys and Thornleys).

Thomas E. Ricks

4) In 1856, my 3rd great grandma, 8 year-old Janet Gourley, joined the Martin Handcart Company and pulled a handcart across the plains with her 11 year-old sister. Their father pulled another cart alongside them with their step-mother and two sick babies inside. When their company became stranded for nine days by a blizzard at Devil's Gate, a company for of 27 men came from Salt Lake to rescue them. Among those men was Thomas E. Ricks (the 3rd great grandpa from above). Thomas was one of the 19 known men who helped carry the Martin Company members across the Sweetwater River.

Janet Gourley at her marriage

The Sweetwater Rescue

Now if that isn't cool, I don't know what is.

Two Thoughts

1) What was she thinking??

2) Just because he rarely burns doesn't mean it's a good idea to be lackadaisical about the sunscreen.

Bean

growth stats
0 yrs: 22 in, 8 lbs
1 yrs: 30 in, 23 lbs
2 yrs: 35 in, 29 lbs

I'm not sure which is more surprising to me: that Enoch turned 2 or that Enoch turned 2 and I'm not pregnant. Both are pretty startling! We still call him the "baby", even though my other two kids had graduated from being the baby much earlier. (When Seara turned 2, Elijah was 8 months. When Elijah turned 2, Enoch was 4 months.)

Enoch continues to be a mild-tempered, easy-going, and pleasant baby boy. Because we called him Een-bean for so long, he introduces himself to others as "Bean." And he is still the spitting image of my dad. Check this out:

My favorite thing about Enoch is how observant he is. He notices everything. He points out every chapel we pass in the car, every bird that flies by outside, and every spider that creeps around the house. In just one week he learned nearly all the names of his 6 visiting aunts and uncles, and 11 visiting cousins. Elijah and Seara, on the other hand, referred to everyone as "the talking baby" (Cara's Ami), "the girl in the orange suit" (Trent's Gabi), "Little Liam's mom" (Cara), "Savanna's dad" (Davis), and "the girl in the pink shirt" (Trent's Gabi again).

My least favorite thing about Enoch is how observant he is. Before Enoch I could sneak chocolate milk and licorice for lunch. I could have chocolate pudding at will. I could conceal candy. I could hide in the pantry and gobble down chocolate chips to my hearts content. As soon as Enoch was born, he started noticing my little escapades. And as soon as he could talk, he started announcing them. What a bummer. Now I have to share. But I love him anyway.

Happy 2nd Birthday, BabyBoy!

I'm a copycat.

The other day I walked into my friend Melissa's house and saw the neatest picture on her fridge. I just had to copy her. So I did. Now you can too. :)


six bags, each with 1/4 c rice
add 1/4 t rubbing alcohol and a few drops of food coloring
have your kids shake to mix, then set in bowls to dry for 15-30 minutes

Really, wait til the rice is dry. Otherwise they do this color-spread thing on the paper.

Give your kids paper and white glue, and go at it!

Pictures I Never Posted

Sledding in Timberlakes

Night Skiing at Aspen Grove (for $5 a person!!)

Lots of trips to the zoo ...

... and the aquarium.

Visits from cousins

Playing at the Gateway Fountains

Last, but not least, my masterpiece. 27 years old and I still love Lincoln Logs.

My Most Embarrassing Moment

The girl in the picture on the left is not me. This is me. Remember?

The Date: Fall 1997

The Place: Our high school play, Pirates of Penzance

The Scene: Heart-throb guy is sitting on the ledge of a fountain, all sad like. Four dancers emerge, and make their way gracefully around the fountain, while staring longingly at heart-throb guy.

The Situation: I am not a dancer. Why they chose me to be the second emerging dancer is completely beyond me. But they did. And I think it went to my head. After so many practices, I started thinking I was good. So when opening night had a sold-out audience of over 2000 people, I put on my A-game. My moment of glory arrived and I glided gracefully on stage and began my circle of the fountain. I quickly got lost in the beauty of the moment. I was on the coast of Cornwall. I was one of the Major-General's daughters. And I was fascinated by this young, handsome man. I stared at him adoringly as I finished my loop of the fountain, then I glanced forward ...

... and ran face first into a tree.

the kiddy kiddos

The last day of Seara and Elijah's tumbling class - video tricks pending.

Stats
Seara - 40.5" 36 lbs
Elijah - 40" 37 lbs
Enoch - 33" 27 lbs
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Lija: [growling] I'm Goliath! Slay me!
Sisi: What does slay mean?
Lija: It means you hit me with a rock.
_____________________________________

Seara has become incredibly helpful to me lately. See, my brain just ain't what it used to be. But I recently discovered that if I can't remember something, Seara can. Take the following conversations we've had recently ...

Me: Hey Sease, what is the bad guy called on the Princess and the Frog?
Sease: The Shadow Man.

Me: What are the names of the zoo's rhinos again?
Sease: George and Princess.

Me: Seara, what is it called when you do this [I do a ballet move. Badly.]
Sease: Arabesque.

Gotta love that girl!
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The kids after their daddy-child soccer class ended. Elijah told them
he wanted a basketball trophy instead of a soccer one. Whatever.

Asking about the kids soccer class ...
Grandpa: Seara, why did you get the trophy?
Seara: Because we went.

Well, that's about as accurate as you can be. It's surely not for participation! Seara was fine, but Elijah is a bit of a grump sometimes. We keep him around anyway. :)
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Me: [pointing to Seara] Who is that?
Nic: Sisi!
Me: [pointing to Elijah] Who is that?
Nic: Lija!
Me: [pointing to Enoch] Who is this?
Nic: Bean!
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Some of Elijah's first people

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After breakfast ...
Lija: Let's watch a movie!
Me: We're not gonna watch a movie. Go play.
Seara: Mom, we just like to think about nothing at all. We want to watch a movie.

Who's Your Daddy?

A couple weeks ago I went to the store to get Father's Day cards. I spent nearly an hour picking the perfect cards - for my kids to give to each of their grandpas, for me to give to my dad, for Sam to give to his dad. I walked away, content that I was so on-the-ball. Until I realized that I had forgotten one very important thing ...

This guy.

Oh yeah. Happy Father's Day to you, too, Sam. :)

We saw Toy Story 3!!

I was dubious that it could live up to it's predecessors, but WOA! This may be the best Toy Story yet! We cried a little and laughed a lot - it was AWESOME!!

Seara, the Artist

When Seara was about 18 months old we introduced her to crayons. We were just sure that Samuel's artist gene would be passed on! Much to our dismay, Seara was more interested in lining the crayons up than she was in drawing. Frankly, I thought all kids loved to draw, but Seara utterly refused to. We accepted our fate. But one year ago all that changed. That's right. At age 4 my daughter finally took some interest in drawing. In fact, lately she draws upwards of three or four hours a day. Crazy, I know.

Seara's favorite things to draw are her sisters. She currently has two. Let me introduce you:

Losee (with a short 'o' sound) ...

... and StepLog. Occasionally spelled SupLog.

Of course, she is learning the alphabet:

Like most kids, Seara loves to write her name. But after she saw this, her name started taking on new incarnations ... 'Seara' with (1) rollerskates, (2) wings (Don't call them ears. Just warning ya.), (3) swirlies, (4) faces and hair.

Occasionally she comes up with really random drawings, like this giant:

Or this drawing of the temple:

But my favorite drawings lately are her self-portraits, often done while sitting on the bathroom counter, so she can check the mirror. You can't tell in the picture below, but she is actually wearing a yellow shirt with flowers on it. (Of course, the boys insisted they get pictures taken too, so here they are.)

Maybe we do have another artist in the family after all!

Taking the Plunge

I've always known that I should teach my kids Spanish. I really should.

See, when I was seven months old my family moved to Latin America. We spent two years in the Dominican Republic, five years in Puerto Rico, and then another two in Ecuador. My first words were in Spanish. I learned to read in Spanish before I learned to read in English. I even went to elementary school in Spanish. But then, when I was 9, we moved back to the United States. And for the next eight years I refused to speak it. At all. It's amazing how quickly you can lose a language when you don't use it for years. Especially when you learned as a child.

Places I've lived in Latin America

When I turned 17 my dad decided to revive my Spanish by sending me to Bolivia for my senior year of high school. When I arrived there I couldn't speak a lick. Well, except a few key phrases, intended to keep me from dying: "no entiendo," "quiero comer," and "donde esta el bano." (Which translate to: "I don't understand," I want to eat," and "where is the bathroom.")

Luckily, it's easier to learn a language the second time around - when I left Bolivia months later, I had completely recovered my Spanish. I even studied upper-division Spanish at BYU. My ability to speak was momentarily derailed during my Portuguese-speaking mission, but I got back on track by living in Chile for a few months and by teaching Spanish at the MTC.

My parents' home in Santiago, Chile.

Then I married Samuel. He speaks Spanish, too. We are practically morally bound to teach it to our kids! But it's HARD. We actually went through phase where we spoke Spanish at home and went to a Spanish Branch for church. But Seara was only 6 months old, and she obviously wasn't picking anything up, so we quit.

I keep making lists of the pros and cons of speaking Spanish to my kids, but they always look like this:

CONS
it will be hard
my accent is not perfect right now
it will be hard
my grammar could be better
it will be hard
my vocabulary could be broader
it will be hard
I can't express myself as easily in Spanish
it will be hard

PROS
My kids will speak Spanish!!

9-1. Cons always win.

But in the last few weeks Seara has suddenly showed a marked interest in Spanish. She keeps asking how to say things and she insists on praying in Spanish. I tried speaking Spanish to the kids for a few mornings and she immediately started calling Elijah "Elias" and Enoch "Enoque". Then, the other night, she woke up from a nightmare calling, "Mamá! Mamá!" and I knew.

It's time to take the plunge. I'm speaking Spanish to my kids.

Cousins

McKay, Stephanie, Elijah, Skjelse, Linds, Missy

Greg, Rachel, Seara, me
Everyone in the picture came, plus Lissa & Severin, Tyler, Natalie, and Jenna (she is behind the camera).

I have a LOT of cousins. 67 to be exact. And the really crazy thing is, I actually know most of them pretty well. In fact, we have occasional Cousin Reunions for everyone college-age or older. We're just cool like that.

Our most recent reunion was with Smith Cousins. We did it for two days at my parents' cabin in Heber. The highlight, of course, was the pool table. We played several games where everyone was involved, and then losers had to put their face in snow for 10 seconds + your standing. (So 2nd place got 12 seconds, 3rd place 13 seconds, etc.) It was HILARIOUS. Cousins rock.

My favorite jeans

A few weeks back I took my sister-in-law, Mary, to Temple Square. I wore my favorite jeans. Because I knew Mary wouldn't care. Let me explain.

My favorite jeans are threadbare. Every edge and joint is roughed up. In these pictures there were two holes in the left knee, but soon after I also got two in the right. They're also missing about three inches of the bottom, back half of each pant leg. You can see that better in this picture:

People stare at my jeans in the grocery store. The doctor can't take his eyes off them when I take the kids in for check ups. Samuel and my mother are both mortified when I wear them. But they're still my favorite jeans. So I. don't. care.

Yearbooks

The day I got my 1998 Yearbook, I came home from school excited. As I walked in the door, I could see my mom and Cara sitting at the counter looking through her copy (she was a senior, I was a sophomore). They were commenting on a picture. The conversation went something like this:

Cara: Look how awful I look in that picture!
Mom: [laughing] Wow, that is pretty bad.
Cara: I know! I mean, what kind of face is that? And what is up with my hair??

I walked up to them, glanced down at the picture ...

...and said the only thing I could say:

"That's me."