That Time we Lost McKay

So, I dare say every parent's worst nightmare is having a lost child. My kids have given me a few scares over the years (most notably was when we couldn't find Kyla for an hour or so, only to find her asleep under Damon's blankets), but last night McKay gave me one of the worst. 

We were busy with two soccer games (typical) and Jeff was with Damon on his field across the soccer complex while I had the other three at Kyla's game. The soccer complex is huge, with over 20 fields, a pavilion, a playground and a parking lot. Allie, Carter and McKay were playing with other kids around the field, and I had no problem seeing them. Just as Kyla's game was ending, I looked over and saw Carter. He was fine. I saw Allie. She was fine. I didn't see McKay.

Instantly, I felt that he was gone. I got up and walked over to where Carter was and asked if he knew what had happened to McKay. He didn't. Allie told me she had sent him over to me "a while ago" and she didn't know where he ended up. So I started searching. I checked the street and parking lot first, but luckily he wasn't lying there. After that, I didn't know where to look. There were kids EVERYWHERE, and none of them looked like McKay. A few of the families sitting nearby started helping me look, and Jeff walked over just as Kyla's game was finishing, so he started looking as well.

As the games ended, people started streaming out of the fields into the parking lot, and I really worried that McKay wasn't there. A nice grandma said she would start praying and scrambled around looking. I said a few prayers myself, and tried to take nice, deep breaths, because my freaking out wasn't going to help anything. I ran over to the playground and pavilion to see if someone had found him there, but no luck. I was starting to really worry (it's so hard to keep your mind from going to that "someone must have taken him" place, and I was fighting that urge).     

One of the moms that was helping me look started up the path, and within a few seconds she was calling me over. He had been found! He was wandering around, obviously looking for me. And he had made it a long way! From where I had been sitting, he had probably walked over 100 yards past many fields, without knowing where he was going or what he was doing. It looked like he had been crying (well, he looked worried), but the relief was immediate. My prayers were fervent and thankful that he was okay (even if he was stinky again). The whole ordeal probably lasted 15 minutes, from when I noticed he was gone to when we found him, and those were some long minutes. My heart goes out to those families who have missing children and have no choice but to go home and wait until morning before doing anything else. What a nightmare (literally, that would be my worst dream ever). 

Even thinking about it now, my hands are shaking and my heart is racing. I'm so incredibly thankful that we were able to find him, and the dozens of people who immediately joined in looking for him were angels. I have to admit, today I have been a little nicer and a little more patient with all my kids, but with McKay in particular. If something like that never happens again, it will be too soon. Hug your kids tight tonight. There are some parents who would love to do just that, but weren't as lucky as we were last night. 

More Catching Up

I'm not sure what happened to our pictures and videos from our camping trip the last week of July. I did find a couple on my phone--this was the night we camped at Capital Reef. It was so beautiful and so isolated! Jeff got an awesome panorama shot, I'll have to post it from his computer.

Also from the camping trip, How to Eat an Ice Cream Cone by McKay and Carter

One night while Tara was in town, we had a mini girls night with my Aunt Colleen. We went to dinner at PF Changs and we noticed that the table next to us had a perfectly good appetizer just sitting there when they got up to leave. Tara was brave enough to try one (deep fried green bean) before the busboy cleared the table.

Eric and Kimmy also happened to be in town (randomly), so we met up at my house for a few hours and talked about how much we missed Heather. 

Our raspberry bushes have really been producing lately, and Jeff requested a raspberry pie. It turned out so good, I've had to make two more since!

We spent Labor Day with Jeff's family enjoying one last day of sun. It has been so fun swimming with the Trapnell's and I'm already looking forward to next year! Here are two of Kyla's gorgeous cousins, Aubrie and Macy.

McKay is awesome in his Puddle Jumper

Boys lined up for a jump....

and in they go!

My dad had everyone in the family put in a request for tickets to the MoTab/James Taylor concert, and we managed to get four tickets (two winners out of nine entries). But we had trouble finding one more person who wanted to go with us, so Allie was invited. She loved it! We had a quick bite at Mr Sushi in the foodcourt at City Creek, which we all enjoyed, and headed to the Conference Center for the concert.

Allie told me, "Thank you for bringing me, I love this kind of music!"

I also had the chance to attend Education Week for one day and got to meet up with my freshman roommate, Tiffanie Player. I really enjoyed it and hope that it always coordinates with the first week of school (eg, Jeff's week off because no one wants to get braces on once school starts).

Funnies

I haven't done a very good job of keeping track of the funny things that come out of my children's mouths lately. I need to do better. Here are the ones I DID write down:

During Damon's baseball season, we were watching a game on tv. Kyla said, "Damon, you better watch this so you can learn to be a baseball guy!"

From the "I Never Planned to Say That as a Mother" file: I found myself saying, "Carter and McKay, get out of the dryer!"

Carter walked into our bedroom one morning and asked, "what color is my butt crack?"

We were looking at a picture of Jesus getting baptized during the sacrament, and I asked Kyla if she knew the name of the man with Jesus. She did. "It's John the Baptism."

While we were on our trip to Yellowstone, we listened to a lot of music in the car. During "Sweet Home Alabama," Damon changed the words. He sang, "Sweet home Orem, Utah...Bex, I'm coming home to you!"

We are constantly telling McKay that he is a boy, and that's why he can't wear skirts, put on lipstick, etc. One day I was walking down the stairs and I heard McKay saying to himself, "I a boy, not a girl." I turned the corner and he was holding up a skirt, obviously trying to convince himself that he didn't want to put it on.

I was helping Carter put on his swim suit, and he was having trouble getting his legs in the openings. He asked, "What is that?" I told him it was a little net in his swimsuit. He asked, "Why is it trying to capture me?"

The kids were talking about me in the car one day, and Allie said, "Mom didn't have medicine with me when I was born. Maybe that's why I cried all the time." Kyla added, "Mom did have medicine with me. Maybe that's why I never cried." (Maybe they're on to something...)

Carter, on hearing that we were going to the park, brought me a bunch of toys to put in his "fatty pack" that he planned on wearing.

Kyla told me about some bears that a woman in our ward has. She said that there is one that plays a Christmas song, and then sang it for me, (to the tune of I'm Dreaming of a White Christmas) "I'm singing at the Y."

Another time Carter put his swimsuit on, and came up with a swimshirt on as well. I asked him why he needed that (he rarely ever wanted to wear it) and he told me, "so I don't get yucky things on my nipples."

I often tell Carter, when he is mad at McKay, that Heavenly Father sent McKay here to be part of our family forever. He doesn't like this, and one day told me, "I don't like Heavenly Father, because he gave McKay to us forever!"

And a couple of things I found that Kyla had written down, because I love this beginning literacy stage.

"It's olmost the fouth of Jaly!"

and

"Allie has a crosh on Woltor. Carter has a crosh on Olivia. I Kyla had a crosh on Timey."

Music Vid

Tara and her kids came to visit and we put them to work! Making a music video, that is.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZzLqSHlXbII

Stitches

A few weeks ago, I was doing some errands and Jeff was home with the kids. By the time I got home, carter looked like this. 

Jeff wasn't sure what had happened, as he had gotten the story from McKay. Basically, we deduced that the boys were jumping on our bed and carter fell. Carter later confirmed this when he said, "I was being Spider-Man." 

Jeff called his oral surgeon friend and took him over to get stitched up. 

Three days later, McKay fell on the stairs and came down looking like this. 

What were the chances? At this point, Jeff said he was done with it, and left it up to me to get taken care of. It was 9:0 at night, so I texted my BIL who is a nurse practitioner and asked for his advice. Did he need stitches too? Yes, it turned out. After Ryan got home from the rodeo at midnight, I took McKay over to his house for our second set of stitches in three days. 

Thank goodness for good connections! What a blessing to have TWO people who will do stitches for us, even at midnight!

I tried to get them to sit still long enough to get a pic of their matching wounds, but that proved difficult. Sitting still is not a strength of either boy. 

End of Summer

After our camping trip to Capital Reef/Boulder Mountain,we only had one day to recover before we took off to camp again up by Strawberry Reservoir with Ryan and Laurie and their family. We took some motorcycles and a quad, so the kids were in heaven.

Carter even got a turn

Damon got pretty good on his 70

Dad gave us all rides on his bike

The little boys were in soda/dirt heaven

KyKy also thought it would be fun to take a nap with Bex in the laundry basket. She wasn't really asleep, and Bex was a good sport.

I took the kids to the airport so we could be there when my cousin, Addison, got off his mission. It was so fun!

We got the boys back together a few days later

The kids have not been anxious for summer to end, and tried to sleep together every night. Sometimes, I gave in. 

School started yesterday

Damon is in sixth grade

Allie's in third

Kyla's in first

And the superhero and his sidekick are home with me all day

More July Fun

Man, summer is busy! We have been having a great time, though. And, yet again, I'm behind. Waaaa. Here are some pics from the rest of July...

We hiked up to some waterfall (near Bridal Veil in Provo Canyon) with Jeff's parents. 

Kyla thought it would be fun to photo bomb. Notice my Nike Frees, straight from China. And not real Nikes. :)

The three older kids did a program called Bright Ideas for two weeks, which gave me a great opportunity to ride my bike as far as I wanted. All I had to do was bring the little boys with me. They LOVE riding in the trailer, and never make a peep, even when we go for over an hour and ride 8 miles!

Damon, David and Hunter did Camp Floyd again, which was a lot of fun for them. We got to see their mock battle on the last day. Damon is itching to go back one more year. We'll see if we can squeeze it in before he turns 12!

McKay and Carter have been learning how to eat ice cream cones. They aren't very good at it still, but it's even better when McKay falls asleep before it's gone.

We've had a lot of thunderstorms popping up recently, which is always fun (unless we're swimming), and the kids love to be outside (for a few minutes, anyway).

My lifelong friend, April Ferguson, and her kids were in town, and we managed to get together for a couple hours and catch up. I love that our kids still like each other (the girls like her boys a LOT). 

And thanks to Provo Library's summer reading program, we got a bunch of free ice cream coupons at Burger King. All my kids and Tara's kids were happy to take them off our hands!

Birthdays and Baseball

Damon turned 11 this year. He didn't get to celebrate the way he would have liked on his actual birthday, because he had a baseball game. We knew Damon had some talent for baseball when he came home from field day with a first place ribbon in the softball throw. He has always had a good arm, and he is a good hitter, too. He had never played Little League before this season, because I just didn't know about it. I didn't realize that he should have been playing Little League since he was 7. Instead, we suffered through a recreation league in the city that was pathetic.  As such, his skills have not really improved all that much the past few years. He's good at throwing and hitting, but not good at catching and fielding.

Still, we talked him into trying Little League this year, to see if he liked it. He went to tryouts not having thrown a ball or hit a pitch in over a year. And he came home really upset. He said he was the worst one there and he didn't want to play. This is typical of Damon. If something doesn't come easily to him, he gets frustrated and wants to quit. He can be super negative and pouty. But we gave him some time to think it over (and cool off) and he decided he would stick it out. Jeff went to another day of tryouts and said he did fine, and he was one of the fastest kids there. 

The 9/10 year olds were split into two leagues, A and AA. The better players would play AA and the rest would play A. Not surprising, Damon was put on the A team, where at least half the kids on the team were 7-8 years old. And grudgingly, he started to play. We had always talked about how good his arm was, and I told him I knew that he would be a good pitcher. And since he is not good at fielding, he decided to tryout to be pitcher. It wasn't long before he was one of the best pitchers on the team. His hitting got a lot better, too, and overall, his game improved a lot. I loved seeing him in his uniform, I have always been partial to baseball boys.

There were some low moments during the season, where Damon gave up some hits and felt like he let his team down. He had a few times where he wanted to quit pitching because he didn't like the pressure, but every time, he was able to bounce back and pitch again. And he pitched quite well. His team did well, and he was even chosen to be on the All-Star team. That was the game he got to play on his birthday. I told him it was a birthday I know I'll never forget, and I hope he feels the same. It was really fun to be there to cheer him on (he went 3-3 at the plate) and watch his team win.

We both told him how proud we were of him, not just because he made the All-Star team, but because he was able to persevere when things were hard and become so much better. It was a great lesson for him (I hope!) about not giving up, but working harder and learning to deal with pressure.

After his game, we had angel food cake, strawberries and whipped cream (his request for a birthday cake), and he opened his presents. He also got his own package of sushi, which he requested for his birthday dinner. 

After the fourth, he had his birthday party. He wanted to do a late night with fire pit and fireworks. My camera's battery was just about dead, but I did manage to get a few pics before it went kaput.

Playing foosball

Opening presents

Roasting s'mores over the fire

I think everyone had a good time, and it was a fun end to our birthday season for the year.

Damon is a very good, responsible boy. He has started babysitting for me for short periods of time, and even managed to get everyone in bed and asleep one night while we went to a movie. He has become a little more moody lately (teenage years just around the corner) and can be SO negative. Luckily, he's not like that often, and I hope he will learn to find the good in life. We don't know what we'd do without him in our family, and we missed him a lot when he went to Clear Creek summer camp for a week. It's hard to believe he will be starting 6th grade soon. Wow, time is flying!

Trapnell Vacation

About a year ago, Jeff's mom started to plan a family trip to Yellowstone. It was important to her for all of her family (all 48 of us) to go together, so she made it happen.

We spent two nights in Jackson, WY and two nights at the Old Faithful Inn in Yellowstone. The weather was extremely cold (below freezing one night and in the 60's with rain during the day), but we managed to have a great time anyway. 

Noel was in charge of getting matching shirts for all of us (in different colors for each family). We also did family pictures, which is always a blast (ha!). Look at that group! What a posterity!

Brian's family in red, ours in orange, Russ in yellow, Fred and Nancy in light blue, Greg in turquoise, Chris in green, Laurie in royal blue. 

Carter and McKay needed to be carried everywhere we went. It got old after a while, so others pitched in, like Aunt Sheri.

The smell of Yellowstone (in some places) was quite strong, but it was so amazing to be there. The steam rising off the geysers was incredible!

Allie telling us how she felt to be at this particular stinky spot

This is the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone behind us. Much more impressive in person.

Our lodge was about 50 yards from Old Faithful, so we got to see it erupt many times. The sun finally came out on our last morning, which made it really neat. 

The lodge is over 100 years old and super cool. It's a giant log cabin (the largest in the world) and we loved it! We took long, hot showers in the community bathroom, and we all loved wearing the robes. 

The last day we hiked to the paint pots, which was really cool. The pool behind us looked like a bubbling pool of mud. I've never seen anything like it, and Fred was super happy we got to see it.

Here are a couple cool pics Jeff got with his good camera.

Inside of the lodge at night. He was trying to get Old Faithful erupting with the full moon behind it (at about 11:30), but it got too cloudy and he lost the moon. When he got back to the lodge, it was deserted. Very cool interior!

Morning Glory pool

We had a fabulous time! I only wish the weather had been better, and it would have been even better. We didn't get to see nearly as much of the park as we would have liked, so we will have to go back in a few years to see the rest.