Nathan, Almost 3 -- Memorable Moments from a Mother’s Memoirs

 

February 1, 1996

Nathan has given it to me like it really is.  The other day he looked me

in the eyes and said so seriously, “Mom, you are SO special . . .

and SO ugly.”  How’s that for the innocent honesty of a 2-year old.

Maybe he didn’t really  know what ugly meant.

The other night I was putting his pj’s on and was concerned about

these marks that I keep seeing appear on his tummy.  They are

dark circles of various sizes and they have me worried, though they

do go away after a couple of days.  I looked in the medical book to see

if I might get any help and read about hives and stuff.  Hives itch, it says,

so I asked Nathan if those spots itched.  He said, “Yes, they do.” 

I wasn’t really sure if he knew what that meant and I said,

“Nate, do you know what ‘itch’ means?”

“What??” 

Some help he was.

Aubrey age 4 Memorable Moments from a Mother’s Memoirs

February 7, 1995

“Tonight at the dinner table, Aubrey says, “You know what I would

like to name our next baby?  I just LOVE the name . . .”  We were all

a little curious to see what kind of name this creative little four-year

old would like, and I wondered if it were the name of someone in

her primary class.

 “Captain Hook!” 

When it was obvious that wasn’t making the biggest splash,

she gave it some more thought.  Ok.  “Leopold.”

I’m a little worried for her future children.

To Jamie From the Men in her Family Who Knew Her So Well

Once upon a time, Jamie had a birthday and received beautiful poetry from her

brothers and father that only her immediate family could ever appreciate.  Enjoy.

(Original spelling and punctuation retained for authenticity)

 

“One day a fair maiden was a walking

the next day the same fair maiden was a sleeping

the day after that the maiden was typing

and then she was sleeping again.

then she wrote in her journal and read her scriptures.

Bwahahaha!

-- from Darren

 

 

****************************

Jamie is blue

So is byu

she likes turtles

And her name isn’t Murtle

-from Nathan

********************************

There once was a girl from the coast

Who often and loudly did boast

Of her intelligence vaunted

her flute playing she flaunted

Until she was killed and came back as a ghost

-  from Dallin

      *******************************

Though it seems that you might favor the flute

or even a piano for your noisy pursuits

if anyone knows you

they see it is untrue

compared to your sports volume you’re mute

-  From Devin

***********************************

Jamie, Jamie

What can I say about you?

You are amazing

All of the things you do

If I were a better writer

I’d come up with words to-nighter

But since I can’t,  I‘ll do a little dance

And just say that I love you

-from Dad

 

Don’t Try to Outsmart A Computer At My Age

I couldn’t get today’s blog about Dallin to post,

so I decided to be tricky. My sneakiness didn’t work

and all of a sudden I had the same blog post on twice.

I guess right now I am trying the tricky stuff again.

 We will see just who wins this little battle of the brains.

If today’s duplicate post of Dallin is gone, you will

know who won.

 

Memorable Moments from a Mother’s Memoirs: Dallin age 6

Jim and I just watched a video segment tonight on bullying from a

talk by Pres. Uchtdorf.  This memorable moment means a

lot to me because it showed something very important

about Dallin’s heart.

 

January 10, 1992

“I worked at Dallin’s school again today.  I wanted to write down

something he did.  The girl next to him was not feeling well

and ended up going home.  But she was laying her head down 

and Dallin noticed and asked, “Are you sad, Ashley?”  She must’ve

told him she didn’t feel well.  Then a new little boy that just moved

here started pointing at her and laughing and kept trying to get

Dallin to join him.  Dallin looked at him very defiantly and said,

“I’m not going to laugh at her.”

Times like these make everything I do as a mother to teach my

children worth it.  Well said, Dallin.

Memorable Moments from a Mother’s Memoirs: Darren, Age 3

 

June 7, 1992

Darren finally passed the potty-training hurdle at the tender young age of nearly 3 1/2.

I thought for sure we would be sending him to school in diapers.  He’s quite the kid.

And still just as honest as ever about his “evil ways.”

Last week he says to me as I was making dinner, “Mom, would you go upstairs?

I’m NOT going to take all these little cars outside.”

(He had a little bundle of cars under his shirt he was holding onto

that he’s not allowed to take outside anymore because whatever

he takes outside gets buried in Tyler’s backyard in the dirt.)

What’s nice about him is that he always clues me in on whatever mischief

he is going to make by telling me what he is “not” going to do,

and asking me to leave so that he can do it . . .

This skill has made him who he is today.

Memorable Moments from a Mother’s Memoirs: Dallin age 5

Spending a week with the flu isn’t fun, but it did leave me with time to pick up an old journal and

visit my life as it was some 23 years ago as a young mother with three little boys and a baby girl. 

I made a goal to start recording some of these memorable moments. I have many journals

through the years raising all seven kids, so I might just do a little random journal hopping.  What I

wouldn’t have given to have my Nikon Digital SLR camera back then.

 

Today’s entry is dated May 19, 1991 and features Dallin, the oldest, who was five at the time.

 

“Dallin is growing up (slowly). His prayers have been getting more sincere and from the heart. 

They’re not particularly flattering at times, but they’re sincere.  One lunch when he was asking the blessing,

he said, “. . . and please help Mommy’s fat tummy to go away.”

A couple of mornings ago, he ended with  “ . . . and help us so we won’t fight

and have time-outs and bless Devin so he won’t tattle like he usually does.”

Nothing like a kid to put you in your place.

Elder Troxel Starts His Mission

 

Lincoln flew into Salt Lake City Tuesday evening and Jim picked him up

and brought him on home.  He looked kinda bushed as he crashed on the

rocker, but he was still smiling.  I found out he hadn’t had breakfast and then

had slept through his window of time for lunch on his layover in Oakland,

so he was one hungry elder .

 

This had to explain why he kept telling me how good dinner smelled while he waited for me to finish.

 

 

Jim and I had fun visiting with him and together we all looked at his Tallahassee Florida Mission website

and watched a video of some missionaries and their mission president and his wife.  And my goodness,

I can see Daylin and Jarin both in his eyes.

 

 

We headed down to Provo with time to stop and say good-bye to Nathan in Orem.  Lincoln was Nathan’s

favorite friend growing up and as we drove down the freeway, Lincoln and I were remembering our traditional

yearly camping trip to Silver Springs in Washington.  The Waltons always arrived earlier than the Troxels and

the Walton kids would be impatiently waiting for the Troxel kids.  If anyone drove by looking at the campsite

we had picked out next to us for the Troxels, the Walton kids would start chasing each other and making as

much noise as possible so that the potential-campsite-stealers would drive on by.

It worked every time.  I told Lincoln this is one of the ONLY things I miss about living in Washington.

 

 

We headed over to Lincoln’s grandparents, Lee and Barbara Troxel, who lived a couple blocks away from the

MTC and Lincoln was able to spend awhile with them before saying good-bye for two years.

Boy, have things changed since we dropped Dallin off nearly ten years ago.  There was a very organized system

for dropping off missionaries in a minimal amount of time with no traffic congestion.  There were people directing

traffic every few yards, there were HOST missionaries that appeared to have been assigned to every missionary

that arrived just waiting to escort them in.  It ran like clock work and I was most impressed.

This is the moment he had been anxiously waiting for.  We were hoping that once he walked in that door, the butterflies

would go somewhere else.  I couldn’t even talk him into any lunch somewhere.

 

His Missionary Host is graciously giving me a chance to get some pictures.  I had a good three seconds.

 

And they’re off!

I was not expecting to, but I got all choked up.  I gave him a hug and he was gone.

There was a very powerful feeling there at the MTC.  He will have a tremendous experience and I know that he is

going to make an incredible missionary. 

 

Backyard Beauties

 

This is one of my happy places and is part of the crazy reason that I have begun to enjoy weeding.  I believe we

have a very creative and loving God who enjoys beauty and I am very grateful.  This was taken just an hour ago

in our back yard.

I LOVE clouds.  And to be truthful, I love very black dark clouds.  But I especially love clouds with character.  Like these.

Mom and I were trying to describe these clouds yesterday – too many suds in the dishwater, whip cream explosion . . .

The Hike from Hades

 

This is going to be a very unorthodox blog.  You can call it cheating if you will, but I am going to copy my journal entry from this past Saturday night and add in some pictures.  I have absolutely no desire—NONE, NONE, NONE, to expend any more energy, brain cells or otherwise, on this hike than I have to.

Saturday, June 28, 2014

10:19 p.m.

“ Oh my goodness.  I don't know if I have EVER, EVER, EVER in my life been this tired.  So tired I can't move my limbs and not enough energy to even breathe deeply.

We left for Lake Blanche at 8:45 this morning and got to the trailhead and started walking by 9:30.

 

I have over 20,000 steps today, and each one of those steps was worth another 2.  Technically, I should have about 60,000.  It was Labor and Delivery.  It was like 4 miles of staircases up interspersed with crawling over boulders and then 4 miles of misery of a different sort coming down.  The sign said 2.8 to the top-- I don’t know what they were smoking.

At one point on our way down, Jamie hit some evil tree root on the trail and went flying over the edge of the cliff right in front of me.  She did this neat little “drop and roll” move and ended up caught by a bed of vines that just happened to be there.  I aged a year or two right there.  Her biggest worry was the grass stains she picked up on her shorts.

 

I don't even have descriptions that come close to what it was, but they will never get me there again.  Ever.  I can't believe Jim did that just last Saturday with a 20-pound pack on.  Jamie did it the week before that with Mckay.  But she was 17 and in love.*

 

(*This picture is from her hike to Lake Blanche with Mckay. Poor baby looks fatigued.)

 

 

It was a little disconcerting to meet Bullwinkle on the trail.  I don’t know who legally gets right of way, but I wasn’t about to challenge him to find out.  Do Mooses (Mice?  Meese?) have tempers?  Do they charge?

It took until noon to get to the top and then I was so tired and uncomfortable and it was windy and the sun kept going behind the clouds leaving me shivering with goose bumps, and there was no where to sit comfortably, and I needed to use the bathroom, but that was still a couple hours away back at the bottom of a couple of mountains back,  and I didn't want to move anymore than I had to, and Jim wanted to explore and take pictures and I did NOT. 

We ate lunch at the top and then started back at 12:30.  We were down by 2 and the whole way down I told myself that I did not need to go to the bathroom because I was so dehydrated and it was so hot.  I did NOT.  It was psychological warfare.

I have decided I am a meandering "Joy in the Journey hiker." The hike we took every year up at Silver Springs in Washington that wandered back and forth next to rushing creeks in old growth forest was just exactly ME.  This misery to a beautiful destination hike is NOT. 

  

*My smile is completely fake, an utter sham, an attempt to humor my daughter behind the camera who is accusing me of awful things.

We got home and showered and then tried to take naps.  I know Jim was asleep because of the snoring, but I never made it—I didn’t have the energy to do that either. 

Jim made waffles for dinner.  It was that or cold cereal.  Everything I got out for dinner before we left this morning would've required movement.  I would've gladly accepted help being spoon fed at this point.

I accomplished nothing else the rest of the evening.  Couldn't move.  Literally. Finally made it to my office and lay on the couch.  Tried to read.  Kept dropping off.   We are all ready to fall into bed.”

P.S.  And I have kids that want to do this hike when they come home from college this weekend.  Ha!

 

“Aubey Did It”

I have been thinking about my kids a lot lately, especially the ones I don’t see very often—actually, I think about ALL of them a LOT, but I have been missing my Missing Kid especially, and I could’ve just come out and said I am missing Dallin, but that would’ve been way too easy and way too grammatically correct for this sentence, and I am in the mood to do “run on” and I seem to be on a roll, so I will just keep going and see if I can make as long a sentence as Dallin does in his fancy schmancy papers he writes in graduate school.  Ok.  I am too tired to run anymore.

What I mean to say is, we really missed Dallin at Aubrey’s wedding and I thought it was about time to share a little of what happened with him.  So Dallin, this one’s for you.

Do you remember how Nathan used to pass the blame for anything he did wrong when he was little?   It was always,  “Aubey did it.”

Well, she has officially gone and done it.

My wonderful friend, Natalie, gave her a bridal shower, and even though Aubrey hasn’t lived here in Utah very long, she had amazing support by the ladies in our ward, and even some family.

Aubrey Walton (at this point) and Natalie Winder.

 

The thought of having to do this two more times is  . . . well . . . I shouldn’t really think about it when I am this tired.

They really put on quite a spread.  It’s obvious I had absolutely nothing to do with it. 

Marcy was in town visiting Kendi who lives in Orem now.

Rhonda and Art are still up in Corner Canyon in Draper.

She really got a lot of nice gifts and it was a lot of fun.

The night before she got married, Robert’s family put on an open house for them up in Bountiful.  Most of the extended family that was coming was here by then and made the trip up there.  His family did a wonderful job to help them celebrate and we were surprised that friends from Herriman made the trip up there.

 

Aunt Uarda made them a quilt with the colors that Aubrey chose.  Some day I hope to have one of her quilts for my own.

 

The morning they got married, it was very, very windy, and I think it was probably a good thing that Robert didn’t let go of her.  I believe she would’ve floated off, she was so happy.

And nothing’s changed in the two months since then.  They are still THAT HAPPY.  Robert’s brother-in-law keeps asking if they have had their first fight yet.  Aubrey tells them they fight about who is going to do the dishes--Robert keeps pushing her away from the sink and tries to do them himself.  His brother-in-law says it makes him sick.  They figure the sicker they make him, the happier their marriage. 

Westin has to be the cutest grandson this side of heaven.  He especially loves to be “ow-side.”

 

The Oquirrh Mountain Temple flowers were right up there in basic beautifulness with the ones on Temple Square that I love so much – and don’t complain.  It would hardly be one of my blogs without pictures of flowers now, would it.

It was obvious how much the wind bothered her.

It was really neat that all my family made it.  Grandpa and Grandma are 84 this year.

 

Some things never change.  Does this bring back any memories of attempted family photos?

We are missing you in this picture.  We will have to get another family picture when you come this summer.

 

Yup.  It was the wind again.

You didn’t really want to get on Rhonda’s bad side.

I wish we would’ve had more time with all the family.  We had to leave the next morning to take Marci to Rexburg, which really made this a hit and run kind of thing. . .

 

 

Austin and his new beard with Uncle Art

 

.                 Barrett and Lindsay and their new baby.

Remember Menolly?  She was official photographer and did an amazing job.

 

 

    Richelle helped a lot to control the crowds and her husband—most of the time.

 

 

 I really think they just miss hugging guys.

   It was picture worthy to see Nathan in a tie again.  Handsome, ain’t he?

Candy and Dana had a long, long drive to get here.

    Can you tell they miss you?

                Aubrey and all of Robert's nieces.

 

Robert is the youngest of 12 children, so a family picture is a production.

 

There was plenty more where that came from . . .

 

 

After the wedding ceremony, we all drove over to our ward building where we put on a luncheon for all the families.  Richelle was in charge of flowers and decorations and really did a beautiful job.  Aubrey had chosen yellow and blue for her colors – lemon and blueberries.

 

 

 

 

Caryn Smith and even Brian Walton, who came and represented the Walton side of the family.

Ashleigh and Justin Smith drove up from Mesa.

 

They didn’t do so well when they were trying to feed each other cake.  You would think with her killer Ultimate skills she could hit her target better.

One of the things she wanted most at the luncheon was a dance with Robert and a dance with Dad.   She danced with your Dad to the song, “Aubrey” that I loved as a teenager, which actually was where I got her name.  I don’t cry that often, but watching them was one time I couldn’t help it.

Your Dad wrote a song for her wedding.  It was about the experience she had one night while watching  “The Hobbit” right before she started dating Robert.  Your Dad asked her to write it up and share it at the luncheon before he sang the song.  The song is about “Is There a Moon Rising for Me?”

You can make your Dad cry on demand by asking him to sing it.

 

                    And there you have Aubrey and Robert Field.