A Week Like NO Other

Last Sunday I taught Gospel Doctrine (a Sunday School class) for my friend Taylor.  It was a lesson on the trials of Joseph.  He faced lots of adversity and still remained upbeat and positive.  I knocked on wood several times as I taught the lesson, hoping that I could talk about how we should remain happy and faithful during trials and not have to practice what I was preaching.  It didn't work.  I got to practice what I preached A LOT  this week.
Here are a few of the things that I went through this week.  Still nothing compared to Joseph, but it seemed like this week was never going to end.
-Ben woke up in a pile of poop on Monday.
-Sarah wet her pants on the bathroom floor.
-My van battery died (and I had seen Ben turn on the light in the back that led to this problem).  Then I was impatient in the jump start process and went and bought a new battery.  I was impatient in the installation process, didn't get it installed correctly and ended up having it towed to the dealership because I didn't know why it wouldn't work.  They "only" charged me $87 to scoot the negative connecting cable down a 1/2 inch.
-We took Mike's car to the wrestling match (final match of the season, so I didn't want to miss it).  Derek's team lost by one match for the 3rd match in a row.  
-Then, when I was frantically trying to complete the errands I should have been running when my van wouldn't start (we were feeding the missionaries dinner), Ben wet out the side of his diaper onto the floor in Safeway in the crowded checkout line.
-UGH!
All that was Monday.  I have to say, without our roommate Mike, I wouldn't have survived Monday or been able to start Tuesday.
Anyway, to sum up the rest of the week:
-I missed book club on Tuesday because Derek's seating meeting went long.
-Sarah wet the bed on Wednesday morning--a SUPER rare occurrence.  No more root beer before bed.
-We suffered through the district wrestling tournament on Wednesday, (the Rhino information table went well, but the tournament was poorly run and went LONG, so long we left before they even started the final round.)
-Libby got an ear infection in the early hours of Thursday, just after Derek left for the airport to go the national wrestling tournament.  (And for those who know Libby, this was an EXTREMELY dramatic event.)
-I had a small meltdown on the phone with Libby's doctor's office when they wouldn't schedule her and appointment.
-I taught Zumba to Sarah's preschool class with Ben alternately dancing with the other kids, throwing balls at the group and clinging to me (why didn't I get a babysitter for him?).
AND JUST WHEN I THOUGHT WE WERE GOING TO BE DONE WITH THE HARD STUFF...
-Friday Derek called me from VA where he was at the National Wrestling tournament.  His wrestler had decided to misbehave and they needed to come home early.  This became a much more painful and distressing situation than I can go into on my blog.  But our hearts are aching for an athlete that we really loved.
-And, the bathroom that I had just repaired due to water leaking from the bathroom above started dripping again.  Really.  (The way it happened though, I was finally able to figure out the problem and our plumber fixed it yesterday, whew!)
-I am ready to start a new week.
All week I kept telling myself that it wasn't really that bad.  I mean the reason I subbed Sunday School last week was that my friend's daughter was in the hospital for a week with pneumonia.  That is truly awful!  But while we are in the midst of stress, it doesn't seem to matter that the problems aren't as big as someone else's.  They feel big to us.

It was wonderful to get up this morning and listen to the general women's meeting while I did my neck traction and tidied up the house.  Here is to a new start.

March Marching ON

March always seems SO long.  February rushes by in a flurry of activity that is mind blowing (this year it was extra busy with 2 funerals).  Then comes March.  Which goes SO SO slow.  We still have middle school wrestling, which ends the last Wednesday in March.  We still have rain and bad weather.  The flowers in the yard are almost blooming.  But, we had a few fun things this week that made it fun!
Sunday night was a combined Grandpa Brion and Emma birthday.  We ate haystacks and had a good time.  We gave Emma a rolling suitcase for her travels this summer.  Ben fit right inside and loved being rolled around.  They surprised us by rolling Ben out then coming back and having Libby jump out.  Not sure how to feel that my 6 year old can fit inside a carry-on rolling suitcase.  Sarah did a concert (twice) of "Let It Go" from Frozen.  She sings with major emotion and drama.  It is fabulous!  She knows basically all the words, the dramatic pauses, when to sing and not to sing "the cold never bothered me anyway."  It is adorable.
Monday night we had a St. Patty's Day dinner (cornbeef and cabbage) with Mike and Derek's "work wife"

Leroy his and family.  Mike bought 6 kinds of green soda at the Rootbeer store.  One was even called Bug Barf.  It wasn't too bad.  The nasty kind was the Spruce Beer.  Like drinking Comet cleanser.  Sarah did another concert performance of "Let it Go".  The highlight of this performance was when she tried to remove the microphone from the stand and bopped herself in the face.  She was shocked but kept going!
Tuesday was a normal Bodypump night.  Wednesday was a normal swimming lesson and mom goes to YW night.
Thursday we went to one of Derek's last wrestling matches at the middle school.  We found out that one of his wrestlers used to live in our house as a renter.  It was super fun to talk to his mom (her daughter is also in preschool with Sarah) about the house.  Libby and Sarah are super excited to have a few younger siblings their ages at the matches.  Libby set up a gymnastics mat on the side of the room and had everyone sitting down and raising their hands and taking turns doing things.  She is so much like me it is scary.

Ben dashed out to be with dad during the match.  Derek sat him in the bench with the heavyweight.  He wasn't too happy about it.

Later that night I went to a fun birthday party for Auntie Jen where I ate a vegetarian stew with tofu.  Hmmmm.  It was good, but I like meat!

Ben entertaining himself during the match by picking his nose and wiping it on my shirt.

It is against the rules to take pictures in the Paramount.  Maren is such a rebel!

Friday we went to the LION KING (everyone but Ben)!  Auntie Maren bought us all tickets for Christmas.  It started at 8 pm.  Kinda late for the kiddos (and for me, I admit it).  But it was pretty amazing!  The costumes and dancing were astonishingly amazing.  If it weren't for the creepy guy sitting next to me in a white sequin tuxedo jacket and red velvet pants who clapped uproariously every 2 minutes it would have been a perfect night!  It was pretty darn close to perfect.  The best part of the evening was when the grass dancers came out and Sarah exclaimed, "Those are boys in skirts!  Why are they in skirts?  Boys don't wear skirts?"  Her commentary was great throughout!

Why I love you LIBBY!

I love you Libby!  And I miss you!  Now that you are in school full-time, I don't get to see you nearly enough.  And when I do see you, it is about rushing to get things done!  Get dressed, eat breakfast, get your shoes on, get out the door.  But if I slow down and think about it, there are so many things I love about you!  I love that you care about and take care of your siblings.  You love to help Ben get his melatonin at night.  You are learning to compromise on movies, games, etc.

I love that when I went to put away the stack of books that had appeared near the nightlight in your room you said, "Don't tell anyone about our night time book club."  (Now I get why you are so tired!)  And you anxiously hid the light I found in your covers when I went to wash sheets this week.  (This you inherited from  your Dad.  His mom used to have to remove every light bulb

in his room every night to keep him from reading all night.)

I have to laugh when you are so picky about the way clothes feel on your body.  You got that from me!

You are a rockin' speller!  You have been getting 100% on your spelling tests (or close to it) almost every week.  You are also getting the math concepts super quickly.  Focus isn't your forte, but when the mood strikes you (or a parent sits with you) you get the job done.

You swam 1/2 way across the HS pool all by yourself this week.  Well done!  

You are getting new glasses this week!  They are a bit more grown up.  No more cartoon characters. 

Why I love you, BENNY!

This has been an amazing Ben week.  Plenty of times he did his "AHHHHHHH!"  When I asked him to do things, or eat things, but he had been really fun.

At Sarah's preschool there are lots of colorful walls.  I have been quizzing him on his colors by pointing to the walls and recently I realized he actually knows the colors!  He even knows "dark blue" as opposed to "blue."  Another concept that I thought might be a little over his head that he has a complete grasp of is the "skip" policy I created.  In the car, when we listen to CDs it is so annoying when they all want to skip this song, and that song, and pretty soon the CD is over.  So now we have a one skip policy.  Each kid (including me) gets one.  Ben got this right away and started saying things like, "Mom, don't you want to skip this song?  Use your skip on this one!"

I love how bright you are Benny!

Ben doing some bridging on his bed.  I couldn't get a shot of him up on his head, but that is what he was doing when I found him.  He is still all about his Blankie Binkie.  He pronounces this like one word.  Derek was messing with him during the movie the other night by twirling the ties in the blanket just like Ben does.  Ben was having none of this and kept slapping Derek's hand away.  Ben didn't seem to mind when I did it.

Another funny note about watching Frozen with Ben.  He identified Prince Hans as having the same voice as Wreck it Ralph.  He kept saying, Wreck it Ralph is in Frozen!  So I like Frozen!  Then he wanted to pause and watch Wreck it Ralph, which didn't go over well.  

 Ben started getting really sad when I took the girls to swimming lessons and he didn't get to swim.  He went and got his own suit out of his drawer and brought it to me.  A few weeks ago I took him in and this week Derek was done with practice in time to take him in.  They had a blast!  Ben drinks about a gallon of the water.  Ugh.  

I love how you would wear pajamas every day all day.  Sort of. You are very picky about your wardrobe.  You especially love to wear shorts all winter which inspires some crazy looks from other parents.   

I love you in the outfit that my mom made for my brothers.  Can't wait to take official Easter pics in it.  

You were actually super helpful when I was making a graham cracker crust the other day (pi day actually).  You broke up the crackers and put them in the food processor.  You LOVED pushing the button to grind them up.  The first time you pushed it it scared you half to death, but then you got the hang of it and said, "hands off mom!"

I love that you LOVE me!  The other night I was leaving your room and you said, "How about a hug and a kiss?"  For this guy, anytime!

Why I love you, SARAH

I feel like today I would like to dedicate one blog post to each of my kids. I spend lots of time thinking about them, loving them, worrying about them, laughing at the cute things they say.  So today I am going to write a post to each one.  And, because Sarah is the middle child, she doesn't usually get my first attention.  So today, she goes 1st.
Sarah loves to read.  She spends hours on Raz Kids every week.  I love how she listens to the same books over and over.  There is one that sings about different kinds of pasta.  I am the same way.  When I love something, I want to enjoy it again and again.
She also LOVES to sing.  Her favorite right now is "Let it Go" from Frozen.  When she belts it out it is adorable.  We had a family movie night this week.  Derek and I loved Sarah's commentary.  She let the cat out of the bag that Prince Hans wasn't being genuine very early in the movie.  She exclaimed things like "Oh TRUE LOVE!" throughout.  Watching movies with you Sarah, is delightful!
She is a photographer.  I love the pic she took of me at the bottom of the post.
She is a swimmer...or thinks she is.  Her swimming teacher would reach out to help her when she was struggling and Sarah would say, "HANDS OFF!"
Sarah almost always remembers to shut the van door when she gets out.
Sarah knows that when she gets upset and needs to cry it is best done in her bedroom.  When no sympathy is forthcoming, she eventually gets over it and comes back.
She cried real tears this week when she discovered I had thrown away all of her Valentines.  Sweet, loving Sarah.

 

BODYSTEP IS BACK!

Last summer I gave up teaching my Saturday Bodystep.  I just needed Saturdays back.  I needed to stop having to haul my kids out of the house every day for something.  Also there were no Bodystep subs that could teach for me if I was gone.  But it pained me to my very core.  I love Bodystep.  Finally, I figured out a solution. There is a training coming up in May, so I am going to prep a few people (hopefully) who can sub for me.  I am also going to teach it at 8 instead of 10.  Then I still have my day open.  I am going to get a babysitter to watch my kids at home so I don't have to haul them out.  I think it is a genius plan.  We wills see.  My boss asked me to get some action shots of Bodystep.  These are all me...with my tripod using the timer on the camera.  I think they turned out pretty cool using the HDR filter in Picasa.

Star Trekkies

Last night was the Shorewood Booster Auction.  It was so cool to be there knowing that our kids will go to Shorewood.  Derek and I helped with the ring toss and then enjoyed the dinner and listening to the live auction.  We only bought one thing from the silent auction, a gymnastics class for Ben.  And one thing from the live auction, a brick from the old Shorewood.
With everything going on, I almost didn't get a costume.  Luckily Maren emailed me.  I didn't get anything for Derek since I figured he would hate it if I did.  But then he decided to dress up.  So he drove all the way downtown yesterday to get a costume.  He shaved his head (nicking a spot that he ended up cauterizing with a spoon).  We really looked the part!

Rhino Event

We also had a Rhino Event this week.  It was a Chili Cook-off and boy did we have A LOT OF CHILI!  We had 14 entries.  It was amazing.  I have had fun helping with the Wrestling Rhinos club.  I can't wait to be done with my term of office in June.  I'll be back when Ben starts wrestling!

Wrestling Banquet

Photo bomb by one of the siblings

Photo bomb by Sarah!  The kids love this event because they just tear around the room.

This was the best wrestling banquet in a long time.  Look how many wrestlers showed up!  It was a fun celebration of our State Champ and the rest of the wrestlers.  So proud!

Salt Lake Children's Museum

One more fun event in Utah to blog about, then I will get back to this week, which was full full FULL of business and fun too.
We have a membership to the Children's Museum here.  So I showed it to the Utah gal and she let us ALL IN FREE.  She said we might not get that deal everytime, but we had 3 kids and 7 adults.  It was a blast!

Each place in the "town" had a mailbox.  There were plastic postcards so you could deliver the mail to each place.  This was by far my favorite part.  Except I also loved playing with the magnet building things.  Okay, it was all awesome.  

Favorite Trip Quotes

My kids always say so many funny things with family around.

Soren remembered this one:
Libby: what is the odds of that?! Sarah: Libby, it's 'are.' What ARE the odds of that?

How did I almost forget one of my favorites? Sarah :auntie Rae Rae do you like my shirt? It's a size 7 but it (using air quotes here) "still fits me".

We got to go to a show put on by my sister Emily's students at West Point Jr. High. It was hilarious. Libby loved how the "duh duh duh" sound came on after each time they said "The Horrible Monster of Danky Swamp." Libby also laughed so hard in the pre-show. It was contagious and hilarious. Grandma remembered:
Sarah said: "I really liked the Horrible Monster of Danky Swamp."

Rae Rae: And of course I loved Ben giving a "Poke in the snoot!"

Sarah also told me at Cafe Rio that if I get sick but don't throw up, and then get a big lump in my tummy, then I will be having a baby. She said that's what happened when her mommy had Ben. (I am so sorry I missed hearing this quote!)

Davey gave the girls "uppy" rides where he would carry them. During the "double uppy". Libby: Sarah do you want down? Sarah: No I want someone to put their hand on my butt.

Bryn remembered that after Derek told Ben his teeth would get messed up if he kept using binky, Ben asked me, surprised, "Will they grow in backwards?!"

She also had the girls ask her if she was singing back up in the "Faith, Hope and Cheerios" song on the Randall Jamz CD. We had discussed this in the car about 2 months ago. I am surprised they remembered.

We went to see Brad in a show at BYU Idaho. "Lend me a Tenor." It was hilarious. The girls loved it. At one point in the show one of the characters appears to be dead. Brad is trying to wake hiim. Libby yelled from the back row, "Just slap him in the face Brad!"

We took the girls to a restaurant called Sammy's in Rexburg. They have a stage where they have live music on the weekends. We were there to early to hear any, but the guy was there setting up. Ben became his friend right away. Sarah asked if they could sing the Frozen song "Let it Go." So the guy used my phone to play it and they got up on stage and sang (all the words they know) into the microphone. It was adorable.

That night we slept at the "Hotel Cottle," aka Rachel's house. I think Sarah actually thought it was a hotel until about 2 days ago.

Family Time at the Funeral

I think my grandpa would have enjoyed his funeral, which is how it should be.  There were some light moments, and some great praise of a good man.  His children each spoke and shared what they loved about their dad.  His 1st and favorite mission president spoke.  Then we ate ham and funeral potatoes.  The best part was that all 22 of his grandchildren were together in one room for the first time ever.  We made a quick stop at the cheese factory on the way to the graveside service.  At the cemetery, the little girls found lots of random flowers (from other graves) to add to his coffin.  Oh my.
Then all 22 grandkids, his 4 children, all the spouses and great grandkids came to my parents house for popcorn and hot cocoa.  2 of his favorite foods. My sister remembered that he told her once that when my grandma was out of town he and their dog (named popcorn) would eat popcorn for breakfast, popcorn for lunch, and popcorn for dinner.  I believe it.  We also drank rhubarb juice and ate ice cream.  The only thing we didn't do is pour fruit juice (or fruit) over our popcorn.  That was one of his favorites.
My grandma has pretty serious dementia.  But she said a few things that really touched me/helped me see how she was really feeling.
My first interaction was when I hugged her and said, "How are you doing grandma?"  She said, "I am going to be lonely for a long time..."  I said, "I think he will come for you grandma. You won't have to wait too long."
When we were leaving the viewing, she said, "Where is my husband?"  We all looked past her at the casket.  She said with sadness, "Oh, he's gone isn't he."
But here is my favorite that shows her fire.
"I am going to miss him.  We worked together, we prayed together, we served missions together and now he left me.  Just wait until I get my hands on him!"

My favorite pictures of the day:

Em and Soren

Nick and Drea

Ben wrestling James.  Takedown for 2.

Brad and Rachel

My cousin Wes flew from TX with his little guy Desmond

All 22 grandkids

The last time we had a picture with almost all of us I was maybe 11.  Wes was in the front row making a face similar to the one we are all making here.  

Our family--all together!

My sibs

My dad and his sibs.  James, Myrna, ArVae, Kelly

Grandma joins the kids for a picture.  She was really having a hard time with the whole thing.  

My kids, the grave robbers.  

The Trip

We spent an amazing week in Utah for my grandpa's funeral.  We were planning on leaving on Monday, but the weather on Snoqualamie Pass was looking really bad.  So Derek hunted down some chains (WE LOVE LYNNWOOD HONDA because they ended up giving us a set when we couldn't find any to fit our run flat tires).  Anyway, I don't do spontaneous.  Usually I take 3 or 4 days to pack for a trip.  But once he found the chains, we packed in about 2 hours and hit the road.  We had to chain up to get over the pass, so it was slow going.  But we made it!  (I even sort of learned to put on chains.)  We stayed in Pendleton on the way to UT.  Sarah loves to tell everyone that we stayed in the Red Lion Hotel.

The next day we made our way to SLC in true Norton road trip tradition.  This means we stopped often and for longish periods of time.  The funniest stop was when we were at a rest stop.  Ben had just gone #1 in the potty.  He was so excited.  He was jumping around in the lobby when all of a sudden he stopped and said in a very concerned way, "I pooped on my shoe!"  Indeed, he had exploded out of his diaper (he was on antibiotics) and a single drip of poop had reached his shoe.  Massive cleanup ensued and we got back on the road.

Derek and I like to listen to books as we drive.  But, for the second trip in a row, we have gotten so into the book that we have forgotten to get gas.  This time when the gas light came on, we thought we were sunk. Thank goodness for SUBLETT ID.  There seems to be nothing there but a gas station where you can also feed the alpaca and donkey.  But it was heaven sent for us this trip.  

The books we listened to were Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary Schmidt.  I LOVE his writing style.  It was amazing, and quite sad too.  I like Schmidt's other books better.  Then we listened to Tom Clancy's Locked On.  Derek had never read any Tom Clancy before.  I hadn't read anything recent, so it was pretty fun.  Actually pretty intense. I maybe wasn't the sweetest parent during the drive home as we listened to a book that intense.  But the drive home was much faster as we powered through from Rexburg (snowing), the rest of ID (raining), and OR passes (snow covered) and back into WA where traction tires were advised on Snoqualamie.  Whew.  Glad to be home.  

The view from our balcony

Stopping in Twin Falls.  That place is AMAZING!

Libby's favorite part of the trip was this guy, founder of Twin Falls or something.