A Funny Story that Must Be Recorded

This is more of an embarrassing story for me, but it still needs to be recorded so it won't be forgotten.

When Max and I got back from Dallas on Sunday, I noticed a very strange mark at the base of Wyatt's neck, just over his left collarbone. It looked like raised, discolored skin. I asked my mom and mother-in-law if either of them had seen him get hurt while they watched our kids over the weekend. I though maybe he'd gotten some kind of rug burn or rope burn--perhaps he'd had a rope or something like it over his shoulder and it had pulled across his skin. No one could remember anything. When I touched it, Wyatt didn't say it hurt and it didn't look like a scab so I wasn't sure what to make of it. I looked at it all day Monday, it was still there Tuesday, and even on Wednesday. I decided that this was weird enough that I needed to get it checked. What if it was some crazy virus or cancerous growth or something that needed to be caught right away?

So I called and made an appointment with our doctor for Thursday. We really like our doctor, Dr. Tullis. He lived in my neighborhood growing up. Our kids have been on the same t-ball team, he's laid back, and just really nice. So we go in to see him and Wyatt shows him his neck. The doctor looks at it and says, "Yeah, that does look weird." So he got out his magnifying thing with a light on it to get a closer look. Then he said, "I'm going to see if it will move at all" and he got out a tongue depressor and prodded it a little bit. Part of it pulled up a bit and he tugged it off. Wyatt winced just a little so I thought maybe it was just some kind of really weird scab. Dr. Tullis said he wanted to run look at it under a microscope and he'd be right back.

When he came back in he said, "You know, there's only a couple human cells on it, so I want to try something..." He then went to the drawer, pulled out an alcohol wipe and proceeded to rub the strange growth off of Wyatt's neck, with me saying, "Are you serious? Is it just gum or something?...I am so embarrassed...I promise I bathe my children," and finally, "So how are you going to write this in your notes? Used alcohol wipe to clean neck of 5 yo brought in by crazy paranoid mother who doesn't seem to wash her children?" Luckily Dr. Tullis was very nice about it and didn't make me feel any stupider than I already did on my own.

Moab with Friends

We have some pretty awesome friends. Earlier this year, we got to go on a trip to Moab with the McQueens and the Livingstones to meet up with and see the Youngs. It was the first time we had seen Brody since he had been shot and nearly died the previous November while doing a routine car check. It was so fun to be all together. We all worked together as river guides (except for Nancy, but sometimes I almost forget that) so our friendships go way back. The best part is seeing our kids play together.

Of course we had to make a run on the river. The water was cold, but the sandy beach was perfect.



Eleven kids in all that weekend (and one in spirit--we will always miss River). How did that happen so fast?!? I swear we were just barely running the rivers with no one to worry about but ourselves...oh and the passengers. The kids played so well together, but I'm of the opinion that kids always play well when there are no TVs or toys around to fight over. We rented a big house in Moab so we didn't all bombard the Youngs, but next time we'll have to all go on a river trip or camping trip so the kids can play together even into the night.
On our way home, we stopped with the Livingstones at this crazy place outside Green River that Wendy told us about. It's called Crystal Geyser and there are really no signs telling you how to get there so if anyone ever wants to know, give me a call or send me an email and I'll give you the low down. The minerals from the geyser have made this amazing area right next to the Green River. It looks mostly pumpkin orange from afar, but as you get closer there are all kinds of colors--greens, reds, yellows, and even purple. It really was a cool place.

The geyser goes off every once in a while and videos online show it really exploding, but we only saw a low bubble. Guess we'll have to go back.

Time for Some Catching Up

First a photo from early spring. I know the boys are in Christmas jammies, but we wear those year-round around here. Max took the boys to Sportsman's Warehouse for something--fishing lures maybe--and the boys came home with these. What a good daddy!

Darth Jonah

Jonah is all about Star Wars right now. He worked very hard for several weeks to earn money towards this voice-changer helmet. He also spent quite a few hours learning both the Star Wars and Darth Vader themes. Since the arrival of the helmet we are visited by various Sith Lords ranging from a 2-foot diaper wearing variety who says, "Dun, dun, dun" (Darth Vader theme) to the 3 1/2-foot variety who warns that if you don't give him a treat he will be "forced to destroy you," to the 4-foot variety who wields a plastic light saber and shows no mercy.

March Winds

I'm always so excited for kite-flying in March. Yestderday (thats' right, I'm posting about something that happened yesterday) we went across the street to the big open field (that's right, just across the street, I love living in the country) to fly our cheap kites. I am a total convert to cheap kites. I used to think the fancy ones probably flew better, but no, the $1 kites are the best flyers for kids in my experience.

We bought the kites on Tuesday and each boy got to pick out the one he wanted. Wyatt chose the penguins from Madagascar (Max's tells a lot of attack penguin stories based on these fellas at bedtime). Jonah chose Star Wars (he plays the Imperial March on the piano probably 50 times a day--video coming soon). And Emmet chose Lightning McQueen (he says the word Cars and Speed probably 500 times a day).
I couldn't get a picture of Emmett with his kite because he wouldn't hold onto the string long enough for me to snap a photo. I even chased his kite through the field a few times trying.
Yesterday was a short surgery day for Max, much needed after two weekends of very busy call, and so he got to join us for a pretty perfect afternoon.

Puddle Jumping

The giant snow piles in front of our house are turning into giant puddles. Hooray for spring!! The first time we went out, when I took these photos, poor Emmett only had his snow boots and it turns out they were not puddle proof.Since then he and I got some rain boots so now we can all play in the water.
Max isn't doing too much jumping lately, so he hasn't been able to join us. He tore his ACL in December, had it repaired late-Febrary, and has had a pretty bad inflammatory reaction since. Whereas most people are walking without crutches after 10 days, he was almost 3 weeks. He's limping around now, but is pretty exhausted after work everyday. I don't think it helps that he has to stand up for work pretty much all day, but what can you do?

Somewhere under all that puffiness is his kneecap. We hope to see it again soon.

Happy Saint Patrick's Day

This is in the morning...by the end of the day he had two green, bead necklaces and a big, glittery, clover sticker on his cheek.

Basketball, Bowling, and Basketball

We took the boys to a BYU basketball game so we could see The Jimmer in person. It was fun to take them all and they did a good job. They would have done even better had they not stayed up with cousins at a sleep over at grandma's house the night before until 11:00 pm, but that made it so that Max and I could go on an early Valentine's date, so what are you going to do?

It's nice to be back near family so we can go on more dates (thanks g-mas and g-pas and aunts and unlces!). And I know my boys love playing with cousins.

Next we went bowling with Ribbit Reader. Wyatt gets to bring home Ribbit Reader from preschool a couple times a year. We're supposed to read the book that comes with the frog and then do something fun with him. We tried to go miniature golfing, but sadly, the mini-golf that just opened back in September must not have had enough business because it was closed up and completely empty. We went 3 times, why didn't anyone else? So instead, after a few tears about the out of business mini-golf, we took Ribbit Reader bowling. We basically had the whole alley to ourselves seeing as it was 2 or 3 in the afternoon.

On President's day, the older boys and I were invited to go to the Harlem Globe Trotters with the Linds--Max's boss's wife and her two oldest boys. I was probably more excited than the boys because I still remember going to the globe trotters at the Salt Palace when I was young. I think it was my dad, me, and my little brother and it was awesome.

Even though I was excited, with my own kids, I really try never to build things up too much. I'd rather they were happily surprised rather than let down. I often don't tell them until we are on the way that we are going to go do something just to avoid the disappointment of having plans change. I had a really hard time when plans changed as a child and sometimes I think Jonah is a lot like me. He doesn't like it either. However, I just recently took a Love and Logic parenting class and now I kind of wonder if I'm not giving them opportunities to deal with change and disappointment. Maybe I should tell them plans so that they can learn how to handle it when plans change, because even as an adult things always change and I'd rather they learn how to deal with it when I can help them than when they are in their early 20s. Anyway, back to the globetrotters...
They were just as funny as I remember them.
We all had a great time, and a little (or a giant handful of) cotton candy sweetened things up even more.
Big G was especially funny. You can see him on YouTube--good for a kid laugh.

This next picture is classic. Jonah gets more food on his face than any of my other kids. He doesn't even seem to notice most of the time and he'll have pizza sauce or blackberry juice almost up to his ear on one cheek or even toothpaste dripping down his chin. Right now, when I can still get him cleaned up it's okay, but I kind of wonder what will happen next year when he eats school lunch. Maybe we need to work on napkin skills this summer.

The Circus--small town style

The Jordan World Circus came to our town a month or two ago. I must say, I wasn't expecting much from it, since I only heard about it the day before it came and I knew it couldn't be that big because of the venue. But I was actually very impressed.

Luckily, we had a "buy an adult ticket, get your kids in free" pass so that I could pay for the overpriced elephant ride for Jonah.

I vaguely remember going to circus when I was probably just older than Jonah, but I think our seats were pretty far back in the Salt Palace because my memories seem like the performers were far away. We got to the arena about 20 minutes early and it was general seating so we were on the third row, right in the middle. We could see it all!
This was true, old fashion circus--there were no nets below the tight rope walkers. This one is jumping rope on the tight rope. He actually did fall once, caught himself with his arm, grabbed on and swung back up. I really didn't want my children to see someone fall and break their neck so I'm glad he caught the rope.

Whereas the tightrope walkers were usually smiling and looked in control, the chair stacker actually looked terrified at times. He didn't have a good poker face, but he made it to the top.

There were lot of other performers--jugglers with knives and fire, sword balancers, acrobats dancing and spinning in the air on yards and yards of silk, and one clown. Yes, one clown in the whole circus. He still got the kids to laugh though, so why mess with a good thing, I guess.

The guys on the pendulums were crazy good. They would jump at the top of the pendulum and float down, and it always looked like a sketchy landing. They even did it blindfolded--and maybe the blindfolds were just a trick, but it really did seem like one of them wasn't running around the wheel fast enough so then I thought they might have been real. Wyatt really loved watching these performers. He kept saying it was "Whao" every time they didn't fall off when you thought they would.

The elephants were by far the best animal performers. There were bears and tigers, but the elephants stole the show--standing on their heads, sitting on each other, dancing.
And Jonah loved the motorcyclers in the ball. I think there were 4 or maybe 5 in there. Always impressive.
Emmett sat on my lap, enthralled the whole time. Poor Max had to work, so no circus for him, and he never even went as a child. So if the Jordan World Circus returns, we will definitely have to take him.

More Snow Fun

I somehow missed this great photo of sledding before. Who needs sleds?

We decided to try out the Soldier Hollow sledding hills. It was fun, but I would recommend not going just after a big snow fall--kind of slows things down. Still fun.

Skiing

I got to go skiing with my three brothers for my little bro's birthday in January. This is why I know how to ski and why I can keep up pretty well with the guys--this is who I had to keep up with growing up.

It was a very cold and snowy day. Old red-beard, birthday boy Matt had an ice-beard by lunch time.
Joy came and met us for lunch. Wish Kris could have been there too. It was a fun day--lots of laughs, like when Jeff found a hole in the crotch of his borrowed snow pants and figured out why his butt was wet.

Moving Weekend

We've moved again! How I wish I could post photos of our own dream home, but no, we moved from one rental to another. This one smaller and with less yard, but more expensive. Go figure! When we moved back to Utah, we wanted to rent for a few months to find something we really liked and make sure Max's job was what he wanted, so we found a short 6-month rental. Only problem was that there was no way to extend the rental because the owners needed to move back themselves. Unfortunately we didn't find our dream home so we had to find another rental. Max and I figured it out and in just a little more than 8 years of marriage, we've moved 8 times. What's really weird about that is that we lived in one home was for 3 years and another for almost 2.5 so all the other moves have been really quick. Luckily though, we have always been blessed with a lot of help moving and this time was no different. More people than we expected came over in the morning to help us move all the big stuff and then when all those people went home, two great families came over. They both have all boys like us, so 8 little boys played while the men put the garage together and the women put away most of the house stuff. We were pretty much done by the end of the day and even had time to play that night.

This is the GINORMOUS snow pile in front of our house--turns out to be a good sledding hill.
In the evening, we all went to dinner and the Midway Ice Castles. It was really amazing--even bigger ice sculptures than I had expected. And the lighting made it feel pretty magical.

Christmas and New Years

Wow, I"m finally blogging about Christmas. That means I'm less than three months behind!

On Christmas Eve we made Santa some delicious sugar cookies. They were excellent decorators this year. In years past I've had to help get the frosting on or something, but Jonah and Wyatt went for it and did a great job.

We cut down our own tree again this year. And since our rental had a very high vaulted ceiling, we decided go big!

Christmas morning was very fun. The boys got a lot of the things they had asked for. Wyatt asked for a Bop-It. He had played it at cousins' and grandma's houses and was already pretty good at it, but within a few weeks he had beat Bop-It, on the master level! I didn't even know you could beat Bop-It.
He gets creative with it too. He bops it on his head or on his tummy. And sometimes when he gets in the Bop-It zone he does this funny little dance as he keeps up the game.
Jonah had asked for Mouse Trap. He loved the Ok Go, Rube Goldberg music video and Mouse Trap, to him, is the same sort of "Invention" as he likes to call it.
Max didn't ask for much, but he got some fun stuff. See how happy he is with his Frosted Flakes!
Emmett loves dogs and Santa brought him a rollerblading dog. What? A rollerblading dog? I'd never seen one before either. It is pretty hilarious. If you clap or yell, it starts to move and bark. He chases it around the room but doesn't like it if the legs start moving while he is carrying it because it's a pretty strong rollerblading dog and it's hard to hold on to it when it's legs are going back and forth.

Emmett and Wyatt also got a lightsabers. Jonah already got one for his birthday back in September so he could teach Emmett the Jedi art of lightsaber fighting.
The aftermath...

Christmas afternoon was spent at the Stirling house with family. The boys got cool snowboard sleds from Grandpa Stirling which they love, and lots of other fun things. It was a great Christmas.

On New Years day, we chuck the Christmas tree out the front door. My family always did it growing up and I think it is a Swedish tradition passed down from my grandpa, or maybe it's just a crazy Nelson tradition. Either way, it's a lot of fun and the boys like to help.