Let them be Little

It's gotten a bit cloudy today, but I can't complain. The weather has been GORGEOUS the last few days and we have been trying to follow Sheryl Crow's counsel to "soak up the sun." We have been going for a lot of walks, which the girls love. Here is another one of Allie's fantastic outfits: swimsuit (typical) with swim bottoms over the top (not typical), completed with her new Easter shoes. Lovely. She is posing with her stroller and doll.


She and Kyla took turns pushing the doll in the stroller while I pushed the other one in the umbrella stroller. Kyla thought it was way too much fun and we went around in circles on our street for about half an hour before I took charge and announced that we would walk all the way around the neighborhood!


As you may have guessed, Allie spent more than her fair share of time riding in the stroller pushed by me. I thought this was especially clever. She got to have all of the fun, but had to do none of the work (by the way, for those of you who commented on my carrying Allie up the mountain in the backpack instead of Kyla, I thought I'd clarify. I had Kyla on the way down in the crappy backpack, that puts all the pressure on your shoulders. I thought it would be a much better trade to take Allie in the better backpack, because they really can't be that much different in weight. I think I had the better end of the trade, even though I had the heavier girl!).

In other news, Jeff and I were forced to have a parenting moment last night. It was quite intense. The kids had just gotten out of their respective tubs/showers and were supposed to be drying themselves off with their own towels. I was outside talking on the phone (gotta love the great cell phone reception we get here in the basement) and Jeff came out holding our camera. He proceeded to show me some of the pictures one of our children had taken (I won't mention names, but it was a boy). There were pictures of all the kids naked, including close-ups of the unmentionable areas (don't worry--all pics have been deleted and will not be posted on my blog, even though I am private!). The child at fault was crying uncontrollably, and we told him we needed to talk to him, to which he responded, "I'm busted!" I don't think he knows what that means, but he was absolutely right.

We sat down with him and I asked him to tell me what was on the camera. He said, "Why do I have to tell you, you already know!" For some reason, looking at him feeling so guilty, I was struck with the strong impression that this will definitely not be the last time we have to talk about how we know that he has done something wrong. Suddenly, I felt like a parent, not just some wannabe mommy with three little kids. After much talking, I think we impressed on him that we weren't mad, and we understood that he was curious and that was okay. We told him again and again that we weren't mad at him, but needed him to know why this was such a serious thing. I think he got it, and was much repentant. We brought Allie in and explained to her why we keep our private parts covered and that no one has the right to touch them, EVER. I asked her if she knew why. She said, "because they might get germs on their hands." True. I tried not to laugh when I told her there were other reasons no one should ever touch her privates. She nodded her head in all seriousness, but I know she was dying to get the heck out of there. We all were.

After a while, the heaviness of the situation seemed to evaporate, and Kyla lightened the mood by pretending that she knew the answer to all our questions (I think "Kyla" probably is the answer to any question she could possibly have!). When I said my prayers, I had to remember, as I often do, to thank my Heavenly Father that my kids are still little. They still believe everything Jeff and I tell them. They are still so sweet and innocent, despite their growing curiosities about the world. And I want to keep them little for as long as I can. I'm not ready for heaviness that will no doubt follow us around all too soon.

So, today I'm celebrating childhood. The kind that evaporates all too quickly. I'm celebrated layering swimsuits and begging for walks in the stroller. I'm celebrating prayers from Allie whens he asks, "please help us have a great time in bed" (don't tell me you have never prayed for the same thing!). I'm also celebrating Kyla's love of everything Allie loves. At my mom's house last week she was in bed in the basement while Allie chanted upstairs, "W-I-L-D, Wildcats!" When I went down to take a shower, I heard Kyla chanting to herself, "Wildcats!," because anything Allie says is worth repeating. I am also remembering a time, a month or so ago, when Jeff was wowing us with his skills on Super Mario 3, and I commented, "he's jumping up to heaven" (for all you gamers, you know what I'm talking about. When you jump on a super bouncy thing and get to gather all the coins you can up in the clouds.). Allie, in all seriousness, said, "So that's what heaven looks like."

And now, as I'm sitting here looking at my three beautiful babies, I'm thinking she's probably right.

Vacay

Because spring break was just a couple of days after Easter, we decided to make it along vacation and let Damon miss two days of school (something we try not to do) so we could go camping and still have time to visit my family in St. George. Monday after Easter, we loaded up Jeff's 4Runner and drove through the desert of Arizona, stopping in exotic locations such as Tuba City and Old Oraibi in Hopi Land (not a Disney theme park as you may expect). We finally reached Chinle, AZ and found the free campground right outside Canyon de Chelly (pronounced de SHAY) and set up camp. After dinner, we drove over to the canyon to check it out. Here is the obligatory family photo taken by a fellow tourist.

Tuesday was a most amazing day. Canyon de Chelly is on the Navajo reservation, and you can't go into the canyon without a paid guide. The Navajo have lived there for hundreds of years (and the ancient Pueblo and Hopi people lived there before that), and 50 families still live there, raising sheep and cattle. We went to the visitor's center, where they found us a guide who would come with us in our 4Runner to give us a tour. He was a Navajo man who had actually lived in the canyon, having never left until he was nearly 12 years old! We spent the next four hours with him as he showed us around, teaching us more than we could have ever hoped to learn. Jeff took a ton of pictures of all the ancient ruins and petroglyphs, but didn't convert many to JPEGs, so here is one that will have to do. This is Allie getting a feel for the ruins that are all over the canyon. There is so much history, and there is a very special feeling there, and I know I would never be able to fully explain just how amazing it is, but I would encourage anyone who thinks it might be the least bit interesting to take the time and make a trip there. It's so worth it!

After we dropped our guide back at the visitor's center, we took the kids on a hike down into the canyon, right up to some ruins called the White House ruins. It is the only place in the canyon you can go without a guide and was a fun little hike. Here are the kids at the bottom of the canyon, obviously enjoying themselves.

The hike back up was a little tough (uphill all the way, with Allie in a backpack). I was fighting a chest cold and felt like I was having a hard time moving air, so I had to put Allie down at the top of the hill, still a ways from the car. As soon as I put her down, she said, "Wow! I'm sweaty! I need some water!" We thought that was pretty funny.

Tuesday night was EXTREMELY windy, with gusts at 50 mph, and we didn't sleep very well. Wednesday we had planned to stop at Monument Valley on our way home, after a visit to Four Corners, which was really cool. We all got an individual shot of us in the four different states, but Kyla's was the best.

I doubt we will ever go back there, but it's fun to say we've been there once. There were a lot of booths selling all kinds of crafts (very typical of Navajo Nation, as we found out), and Jeff got some cool arrows made right in front of him. That was pretty cool.

We made it to Monument Valley, but with all the sand blowing everywhere, we couldn't see a thing. Seriously, there was no visibilty. So we didn't stop, and we were pretty sad about that. The weather was crazy that day, with snow between Monument Valley and Page, AZ. We were sure glad we weren't camping that night, as it was predicted to get down into the 20's! The kids were packed in the car, and did a great job, considering how many hours we kept them strapped in. We have learned that we really love camping, and it's a fun family activity that we always enjoy, so it's worth all the effort.


Back in St. George, we waited patiently for it to warm up, and finally on Saturday, it was warm enough to go ride horses at my grandpa's corral just outside town. The kids thought it was the best ever.

I love this one of the girls.

What a fun trip! It went way too fast, and now we're back to the grind. But it seems we missed the last storm of the season, and we were welcomed back to SPRING! Yay!

Easter Pics

We are still in St. George enjoying spring break (where it actually feels like spring today for the first time!), and I'll have much more about our fabulous camping trip we took, but here are some pics from Easter (thankfully Heather and my mom had their cameras out and handy!)

My sisters and me after church

The Esplin girls

All 8 grandkids (the best shot we got--Allie didn't do a very good job holding Annaliese)

My three cuties

Kyla cheesing it

Damon striking a pose

Two Funnies

Last night Damon was involved with the first grade play at his elementary school. He was the woodsman in the production of Little Red Riding Hood. The four main parts (Little Red, the grandma, the wolf and the woodsman) each had a small solo to sing. This is a clip from one of Damon's parts. The wolf has locked the grandma in the closet and is in the bed. Damon and the trackers have tracked him to the house, although he doesn't know what he's tracking.


Photo Sharing - Video Sharing - Photo Printing

Here he is after the play with David. They are both wearing Grandpa Freddy's hats. Damon was insistent that he wear his Camelbak, because a real woodsman would have one.


Allie has been cracking us all up lately. She asked me to write down her rules on Valentine's Day card I gave her. I thought it was great, and wanted to remember it.

The Rules (according to Allie):


"I love Tina and Ricky and I want a bulldog. Make sure it doesn't bite me. If you always want a pet, clean up your house.

"If you can always wear a dress, make sure you don't get a hole in it. Even if you can't do that, eat what your mom says to eat.

"Make sure you always have basketball shoes to play basketball and swim suits to go to the beach.

"If you can't get the pet off your couch, make sure it doesn't go potty on the couch. Or else you have to clean the couch and get all the dirtiness off.

"I love you. You love me. I love lip gloss. Love, Mom. Allie"

Kyla's Faces

When Allie was about Kyla's age (almost 2), she became very facially expressive. We encouraged this (because it was so cute) and she would run through her repertoire of faces. Kyla has been following in her footsteps (facesteps?) and she has her own list of expressions she will give on command. See if you can match the expressions (it's tricky!).

a. tired
b. silly
c. happy
d. sad
e. surprised

f. mad

#1

#2

#3

#4

#5

#6

Update

So, it's Spring. Or, it's supposed to be. I hope it is somewhere in the world, because it sure doesn't seem like it here. I had hoped this was a cruel April Fool's joke when we got snow on April 1st, but it's snowing again right now. How rude. By the way, this is Jeff's parents' house as I drove in.


We have had some nice days mixed in with the rainy/snowy ones, and even though it hasn't been very warm, we have still tried to get out and do things. We went to the library twice this week, as well as the park. We were the only ones there, and Allie was freezing, but it was nice to get out of the house for a little bit.


Damon: Has discovered that he can read chapter books and a whole other world has opened up to him. I am so happy for him, and hope that he will always share my love of the library. It's so fun to see his reading really take off, and I spent one night lying in bed thinking of all the books I loved when I was growing up, trying to come up with a list of books to get for him. I definitely want to read Tuck Everlasting with his this summer, as it was the most magical, wonderful book of my childhood. What were some of your favorites that I could offer him (or read to him myself)?

Damon is also in charge of taking care of the animals every morning. Basically, he gets Ricky (the dog) water, feeds and waters the rabbits and takes care of Jeff's lizards. He earns $4 a week for doing it daily ($3 from grandpa for the dog and rabbits, $1 from dad for the lizards) . Pretty sweet deal! Here he is removing the lizards from their hiding spots and putting them underneath the heat lamp.



Allie: My friend, Holly, mentioned that most of the pictures of Allie lately have been pouting pictures. I hadn't thought about it, but I'm sure that's accurate. I did manage to catch her in a good mood the other day (park day), when she let me comb her hair without too much crying. Another one of her great outfit combos--dress with red leggings, pink coat and sandals.

Allie's favorite thing to do lately is to lock herself in her room with her cd player blasting away. You'd think we had a teenager in the house, until you realize that the song she is blasting is, "We'll Bring the World His Truth." I may be sick to death of hearing it, but I'm never going to tell her to turn it off. :) Recently, I got a Disney mix from the library, and she has taken to that extremely well. Her three favs are #1-I'll Make a Man Out of You from Mulan, #2-I Won't Say I'm in Love from Hercules and #10-Belle from Beauty and the Beast. Last night, I was rudely awaken at 3:00 am, and could hear her singing at the top of her voice, "Let's get down to business, to defeat the Huns!" Amazingly, because we share a wall with Allie, Jeff slept through it all, but when I went in to tell her she needed to turn down the volume a little bit, I was greeted with this pleasantry, "I'm not going to sleep. Ever."

I've heard this before, and it didn't bother me. "That's fine," I said, meaning it. "As long as you stay in bed and keep the sound down, I don't care if you stay up all night." I knew I would probably regret it today (and I might later tonight), but so be it. At 4:00ish I got up to get my headphones and listened to music of my own, having already heard #1 and #2 at least 5 times each. Not my idea of a great night.


Kyla: Although she still has nearly two months before she turns two, Kyla has decided that she would like to go ahead and start her terrible twos now. Her new favorite response to my requests is, "no way." It's cute, but only the first couple of times.

She climbs on everything and purposely dropped my butter dish (which shattered) because she was made I was making her get off the counter. For a while now, she has dug her hands into her dirty diapers, to show me what is inside. We thought we had this taken care of when I bought giant onesies and put her back in them. Recently, though, she has decided that she'd like to join a nudist colony and is constantly undressing herself. The onesies are no longer an obstacle. I found her one day at the computer, having discarded her pants, diaper, onesie, shirt and zip-up fleece. As you can see, she had to work hard to get all the layers off, leaving a mark on her leg.
She is also constantly taking her shoes and socks off. Well, her right shoe and sock come off more than the left. Don't ask me why. But I put them on her feet at least a couple dozen times a day.


But there are times when she is so much fun. She is talking so much (our favorite phrase is, "Listen! No more candy!"), and trying to sing (she also loves "feat the Huns"). She is very expressive and will show you happy, sad, mad, tired, silly and scared. She also likes to pretend she has fallen asleep in her carseat so that I will call her Sleeping Beauty. Then she smiles like this, and I say, "Wake up!" It's a fun game.


Jeff and I are pretty much the same. No update there for now, because KyKy is standing next to me crying like only she can, begging to sit on my lap. She and Allie fight over who gets to sit on my lap. It's like they don't get to see me very often. But that's it for now. I'm going to give in to the manipulator...

1-800-CALLATT

Last night I went to a Relief Society dinner (not because I wanted to go so much, but because I wanted to leave the house and not have to worry about putting the kids to bed), which ended up being a really fun night. Only problem was because we don't have DVR, I missed out on American Idol. I have been waiting all day for ch131.com to put it up (great website for any of you who don't have DVR and miss your favorite tv show), and it's finally here! While it is loading (it does take ever so long), I am here. Hiding from the kidlets.

One random memory while waiting for the pics to transfer from the camera (and consoling a crying Kyla who found me): way back before cell phones were common, also known as the era in which I was a freshman or sophomore in high school, I never seemed to have change for the pay phone. Any coins that I may have collected throughout the day always went straight into the vending machine for a box of Hot Tamales or a Snickers bar, or if I was feeling extra rebellious, a Wild Cherry Pepsi. And because quite often I hadn't arranged ahead of time for a ride home, I would find myself stranded after volleyball, basketball or softball practice. Which meant I sat around a lot in the hallway across from the principal's office, hoping by some miracle my mom would read my mental telepathy and jump into the minivan to pick me up.

Until one day we came upon a genius plan--I would call collect. This only worked, and was only genius, because we used 1-800-CALLATT. When dialing collect with AT&T, I could call home, wait for my mom to pick up, and in the pause where I was to give my name, I would instead give the number of the phone by which I was camped out. My mom would then deny the call, hang up and call me right back. To this day I can hear in my mind her voice as she said, "no," and still feel that little rush of excitement knowing we had worked the system and she would be calling me right back.

That makes me a little sad that teenagers now days will never have the same kind of thrill. But actually, when I stop to think about it, it really wasn't so great hanging out in the hallways of Pine View High at 5:30 in the evening, sweaty and exhausted from another hard day of practice, so I can't really reflect on how bad things have become today...