Emily’s Musings

Every week this month, we have taken the kids to Thanksgiving Point.  (Hannah refers to this place as “THE POINT!”)  The gardens are so beautiful.  You would think I took enough pictures the last time we visited, but amazingly enough, there was more to photograph.



Hannah enjoying a nice stroll through the gardens



This is the largest man-made waterfall in the Western Hemisphere.  It is the back drop to a huge amphitheater.



Aren’t the waterfalls beautiful?



Walking down to the waterfalls



Hannah and mommy



The fam: David, Emily, Gloria, Dennis (David’s parents) and Hannah

Dallin was also there, but he was sleeping in the stroller.  YES, I SAID SLEEPING.  By some miracle, he decided to chill out and enjoy the walk.  We didn’t want to disturb the delicate balance (of him sleeping) so we left him in the stroller.



When Dallin wasn’t chillin’ out, he was being carried around in the Snugli by either David or me.



I don’t know what this thing is called, but Lydia asked us to take a picture of it.  I like to call it life-size-Chia-pets-in-the-garden.



Dennis and Gloria, taking a breather, watching the stroller, while David takes pictures and Hannah and I roll down the hill.  It’s nice to have a stroller-sitter. 

I’m sad August is coming to an end.  The summer is almost over and before long the air will be cool and crisp.  Not exactly looking forward to that.

We are spent.  David and I are both physically and emotionally taxed at the moment.  We appreciate the concern several of you have sent our way regarding Dallin.  We think we may have found a solution . . . we’ll see how the next few days go.  We’ll keep you posted.

I’m tired.  I could REALLY use some sleep.

Pray for a peaceful night.

Dear Hannah,

You are now 25 months old.  We had a wonderful celebration for your birthday.  It was so wonderful, in fact, you ask me about your birthday party all the time and say “AGAIN!?!?”  We measured you on your birthday, and if it is true that a toddler doubles its height from the age of two, you are going to be 5′9″ when you are an adult.  One inch taller than me, and three inches shorter than your dad.

You LOVE marshmallows, and request to eat them all day.  Every day.  At every meal.  You call them “mallows” and expect us to have a never ending supply of them.  A favorite drink as of late is “ice water” not to be confused with plain old water.  They are totally not the same.



You have eliminated one nap.  You are now down to taking one mid-day nap, which you look forward to and love.  Often, you will stop playing with your toys and say “night night?” and sure enough it will be your nap time.  You are a no-brainer for any babysitter.  You could tell them when you want to eat, what you want to eat, and when you need to go to bed.



You love your cousin Malaya.  You talk about her all the time, and want to play with her, but when the two of you actually get together, ALL HELL BREAKS LOOSE.  Toddler fight, after toddler fight.  Somehow, you two are still friends.

We firmly believe in you making choices at an early age.  You get to pick out your outfit everyday, your p.j’s every night, and you even get to pick food options at meal times.  If at anytime in the future you look back at photos and you ask me WHAT I WAS THINKING WHEN I HAD YOU WEAR HOT PINK AND RED TOGETHER, I will be happy to remind you that YOU picked out your outfits.  I think you look darling, even when you are totally uncoordinated.  Allowing you to make some small decisions has eliminated almost all meltdowns when you get dressed.  We hope this skill will help you to be a confidant, independent, and successful lady as you grow up.



Your vocabulary has jumped leaps and bounds over the last few months.  You now speak in three to four word sentences.  Your favorite phrase is, “One more time!”  Which loosely translates to, “Indefinitely, or until I say so.” You surprise us every day with new words you pick up along the way.  Some of my favorite expressions are:

• How are doin?
• Back in Nair (back in there)
• I got you
• Hannah O-fee-A Lesher (Hannah Sophia Lesher)
• Med-sin-nin  (medicine)
• Baby don’t cry
• Don’t cry buddy
• Daddy playing golf
• I got chew  ( I got you)
• Here it comes!
• Ice water
• For a minute?
• Get in nair (get in there)
• One more time
• Lick-a-lish (licorice)

You love things that are either “brand new” or a “surprise.”  Whenever I want you to wear something and you throw a bit of a fuss, all I have to say is, “It’s BRAND NEW!” and suddenly you want to wear it.  If I want you to eat something new and you refuse, I just say, “It’s a surprise!” and instantly, you want to eat it.  You have two strollers, and you differentiate between the two by calling them “strow-ka-ler” and “BRAND NEW STROW-KA-LER!” which is technically true because you did get a new sit-n-stand stroller to share with Dallin.



(Hannah and aunt Heather playing the piano)

You love music.  In fact, you love to sing and dance, and most of your day is spent singing, dancing, and playing the piano.  You request the attention of the whole household to watch you perform, and of course we do.  You love the spotlight and are one darling performer.



You LOVE Ballet.  I ended up taking you to the store and buying you a pair of ballet slippers because YOU WANTED A PAIR SO BAD.  If it isn’t apparent to you yet, you will soon realize that your dad and I are TOTAL suckers for you.



You love your doll.  You copy everything I do with Dallin.  You love to change her clothes, check for poop in her diaper, and you even imitate breastfeeding.



You LOVE Dallin.  Sometimes you look at him and say “Hospital?”  Like we found him in the gift shop or something.  You always want to hold him, kiss him, or squeeze the living daylights out of him.  What an awesome big sister you are. You don’t like it when he cries, and often, you start crying because he is crying.  We refer to this as your “sympathy cry.”  While crying, you will say, “It’s okay buddy.  Don’t cry!”  It is honestly too cute for words.

There may come a time when Dallin bugs you (because he wants to follow you around and touch all your stuff or something very tragic like that) and you might start thinking that you don’t want him around and may even ask me why he has to be your brother.  I want you to remember something very important:  It’s because you WERE SO DANG CUTE, that we HAD TO HAVE ANOTHER BABY. Just the thought of having another “Hannah” around, was just too enticing, and YOU ARE THE REASON WE HAD DALLIN.  Plus, a sibling is the greatest gift we could give you.  It may be hard to believe, but you and Dallin will have a longer lasting relationship than you will with us, simply because we are 30 years older than you and we are banking on you to outlive us.  You two will be a part of each others lives forever, so I’m glad you’re off to a good start in your relationship.  Dallin doesn’t say much now, but I know he LOVES all the attention you give him, and all the hugs and kisses you freely give away don’t go unnoticed.



You love to help Grandma Gloria in her garden.  You are an excellent helper (so I’m told) and most of the time you eat what you pick.



Grandma Gloria helps you with art.  The other day, you asked her to draw  a picture of you golfing, in flip flops (you are still obsessed with them) with a flag on the green.  You are very observant.  You LOVE to play golf with the little golf clubs your dad bought you.



Grandpa Probst teases you all the time, and you let him!  You love to help him in the garden and drink from the hose.  In the picture above, you call the water spouting out over the top of the hose a “jubilee.”  I’m not sure where you came up with that, but it is cute.



You are not a big vegetable eater, even though you pick vegetables out of both your grandparents’ gardens.  You get excited to see tomatoes, but you absolutely refuse to eat them.  More for me I guess.



You love to be sung to at bedtime.  Often, I will hear “Mommy?” on the monitor and when I come into your room to see what you need, you ask me (actually it’s more like you command me) to sit down and sing you a song.  You always request songs about Jesus, and if you don’t hear the word “Jesus” in the first ten words of the song you will exclaim, “NO! JESUS SONG!”

You are very persuasive.  You can convince almost anyone to do anything for you (or your way at least).  You ask so sweetly, and you know how to use facial expressions that make it nearly impossible to turn you down.  You have everyone wrapped around your finger and if you work it just right, we all might stay there for a very, very, long time.

We love you so much!

Love,

Mommy

I have thoroughly loved watching the Olympics over the last two weeks.  Every night, I tell Dallin to chill out, so I can watch the most disgustingly talented people on the planet compete.  I LOVE watching Gymnastics and synchronized swimming.  And hey, who doesn’t get a thrill watching Michael Phelps win gold metal after gold metal?

I just have one tiny little question for that “infamous council of they” (you know, “they” that know the answer to everything).  If these athletes have access to the best coaches and training in the world, then why on Earth DON’T THEY HAVE PROFESSIONAL MAKE-UP ARTISTS DOING THEIR FACES?  You can’t expect athletes to be perfect at everything, and a make-up artist on site could make the events so much easier on the eyes. Honestly, Shawn Johnson is a darling girl, but at 16 years old, you can’t expect her to know how to do professional make-up for TV.  You would think that someone on the Olympics council would hire an artist for every country, for every event.  Aren’t they interested in making TV look good?

Did anyone see Shawn Johnson interviewed on NBC?  Someone, who knew to do her make-up and hair, made Shawn look awesome.  David was shocked to see her so “wow” looking.  Make-up done properly, and a little style in your hair can go a long way.

All I’m saying is that if I was at the Olympics, I WOULD PERSONALLY HIRE, AND FLY OUT MY VERY OWN STYLIST (Like Ken Paves or someone else in high demand).  I would certainly want to look my best when the whole world watched me.

So I am in love with synchronized swimming.  It is AMAZING.  The Russians are incredible, and if you didn’t see their gold metal performances, you missed out!  You to see their performance on the link below.   Just scroll down to “Duet Final: Russia’s Gold Medal Routine”.

I just have to say one thing . . . Why would you want to cake on make-up to jump in a pool? No, really! I honestly don’t get why they cake on TONS OF MAKE-UP. My face just itches thinking about it.

I hope they all have facials scheduled.

It seems I may have misrepresented our child.  You see, our friends, Daniel and Lydia, have requested more pictures of Dallin awake.  So far, they have only seen him sleeping, and they would like to see his eyes.

Yeah.  Okay.

When Dallin isn’t sleeping, he looks like this:



Or some form of this picture anyway.  He is has two moods.  He is either sleeping, or screaming, and since we prefer his sleeping mood, that is when he gets photographed.

I must make one tiny disclaimer, (and trust me, this is tiny) every once in a while, Dallin ACTUALLY SMILES.  We have to give the poor baby a break. He suffers from Acid Reflux, and the medication the doctor gave him has helped him somewhat.  Instead of screaming ALL THE TIME, he just screams most of the time he is awake.  He must be held at all times in an upright position, so he hangs out in the Snugli on my person, AT ALL TIMES.  It is amazing what you can do with a baby on you all the time.  I can make sandwiches, do laundry, email, take my dogs to the potty, and take pictures with my baby hanging on me like a baby Kanga.



Once a day, and once during the night, Dallin will smile.  And when he smiles during the night, it’s like he’s saying, “Hey, I’m gonna make this night worth it to you.  If you just keep feeding me, and changing my diaper every hour, I will smile for 12 seconds.”

When he smiles, the moment is so fleeting, that I haven’t dared to grab the camera and miss the 10 seconds he is happy and content.  However, for your reading enjoyment, I did grab the camera and take a few pictures.





So he’s not smiling here, but he is awake and not crying.  This was a moment to document.



Dallin’s million dollar smile!!!

Please, enjoy these pictures because I sacrificed A LOT to capture him smiling. 

David’s sister, Janine, and brother-in-law, Hal, have a ranch house up South Fork Canyon.  This ranch sits on 600 acres, with plenty of fun things to do to keep everyone busy and happy.

They invited us over to spend the day with them last week.  Hal started the morning off right by making everyone a delicious breakfast of Ego Waffles, eggs, and bacon.  It was de-lish.



Janine and Jade (our niece)



At first, Hannah was a little nervous when she saw the ATV so I took her on a very short 10 minute ride to go see some ducks.  When we got back, David and Hal decided to go for a ride, and they took Hannah.

TWO HOURS LATER . . .(I’m not kidding) they returned.  Hannah had dirt all over her face when they stopped and the first thing out of her mouth was “FUN!”  I was a little worried about her being gone for so long. What two year old can sit in a car, CONFINED IN A CAR SEAT, for two hours and not squirm or whine?  Hannah SAT ON DAVID’S LAP FOR TWO HOURS on that ATV and the first thing out of her mouth is “FUN?”

Maybe I should take her on more drives.



Janine and Hannah enjoyed the swing set on the Ranch’s property.  Hannah LOVES Janine, and decided that she would be her designated playmate for the day.





David picked up archery, and spent some of the day showing off his archery skills.



(David, trying to perfect the art of archery)



(Hannah and David, retrieving the arrows in the front yard)

We love spending time with the Harmons and we certainly had a great time.

I secretly wish we owned this ranch, but whatever.  It’s in the family, right?

I have mentioned before how much Hannah loves to dance.  When she hears a good beat, she can’t help but shake her thang.  I had to share this video, it would just be plain selfish if I didn’t.

Enjoy.

You know you’re desperate when you pack a toiletry bag, and load up your two kids and drive a half hour to your parents house, JUST TO TAKE A SHOWER.

This is my life.  I am desperate.  Desperate to keep on top of my personal hygiene and my sanity.  As I walked into the door of my parents’ house, my mom said, “Oh!  I’m so glad to see you!  I’m so glad you brought your babies!  I have missed them!”

Yeah, okay.  You can have them for the next hour while I find some mental clarity in the shower.  Please, remember that Hannah is around.  She is so easy, taking care of her is like watching grass grow.  Dallin is what we call “high maintenance” so if he screams a lot, or the whole time, just know it’s something he does.  He likes to be heard.  You know, HE DOESN’T WANT YOU TO FORGET ABOUT HIM.

Mmmm . . . It’s always nice to know your kids are in good hands.  It kind of makes you want to take your time while getting ready . . .

Okay, back to reality.  I had a girls night out with some of my best friends from high school.  A couple of the girls I hadn’t seen in almost 10 years.  We all think we look the same (although we ALL know we were skinnier and younger looking 10 years ago) and picked right up where we left off all those years ago.



Anne Wilson Copeland (who now lives in Texas) Katie Trent Renslow (who lives in Colorado) Me (who lives like a gypsy with no place to call home) Katie Corrigan Broadbent (who lives in Utah) and Ashley Huish Tobler (who just moved back to Utah after living in Nevada)  I would also like to point out that Ashley’s baby is four days younger than Dallin.  (And no, Dallin was not invited on my mommy night out.)

We had such a fantastic time.  I haven’t laughed that hard in a long time.  It was so fun to see my friends after so many years.  We ended up talking entirely too long and could have gone on all night if we didn’t have little people to get home to.

Thanks for the great night out.  It was the shot in the arm I desperatly needed.

Since having children, I have become more of a home-body.  Let’s just be honest here; it’s entirely too much work to get up in the morning and shower off the previous days’ nastiness, paint on a face, and wear something clean and decent.  When it comes down to 15 minutes of mommy free time, the last thing I want to waste that precious time on is doing my make-up or blow drying my hair.  Because of this attitude,  I know I have to make a conscious effort to socialize my kid, and GET OUT OF THE HOUSE by manually inserting us in public.

This is why we go to “THE POINT!” every Tuesday.  The first time we went to Thanksgiving Point, we ran into four good friends that we hadn’t seen in a few years.  This week, I ran into my good friend Melissa (who I nick-named “Mel-messa” because she is an organizational mess.  But that isn’t the point here . . .) who I hadn’t seen in almost seven years!  She and I were in the Days of ‘47 Royalty together 12 years ago (oh my, did I just write that? YIKES!  We’re getting old!) and we spent the entire summer of ‘96 together.  We did many crazy things, (she tried to set me up with her her future husband who is now an Ophthalmologist because she thought he was a great guy and “didn’t want to waste him”) like almost driving off the freeway (yes, I was driving, and if my mom reads this, then this will be new information to her) and traveling back East together visiting Washington DC, Maryland, and Virginia.

She is as beautiful and tiny as ever, just as I remembered her.  She was also just as organized . . . she pulled out a grocery receipt to write down my email.  (Hey, I’m not saying I wouldn’t do the same, I just happened to have my address book with me.)

Let me tell you something, AM I EVER GLAD I DECIDED TO SHOWER AND PUT ON MAKE-UP that day.  Not that she would have cared, but it is nice to look decent when you see old friends.

It’s kind of like saying, “Hey, I’m a mom, AND I have personal hygiene.  That makes me successful, right?”

There are 10 kids in my family, all from the same two parents (yes, that means no step or half siblings) who will celebrate their 48th wedding anniversary next month.  We are all married with children, except for Brian, my twin.  Getting all of us together is a huge undertaking since we all have families of our own, and some members of the family live out of the state of Utah.

Two of my sisters, Rachelle and Ang, planned a family reunion up at Bear Lake which is on the Utah/Idaho state line.  Originally, David and I hadn’t planned to attend, but our schedules were worked around and we were able to go.  This only posed a tiny problem . . .

See, my very organized sister Rachelle, rented a Lake House that would accommodate all the families that planned to attend the reunion.  And since David and I kind of decided to attend at the last minute . . . well . . . let’s just say that we were one bedroom shy of perfect accommodations.

My mom rented another condo down the street for my family to stay in so we would have a nice place to sleep.  On the afternoon of our arrival, she checked in to the condo for us and brought back the key.  With a very stressed out look on her face, she proceeded to tell me about the condo.  The unfinished furniture . . . uncomfortable chairs, tiny room, nasty wall paper, etc.  Knowing full well that I might have a gasping-for-air moment the second I stepped foot into the condo, she was positive we couldn’t stay there.  (I totally agreed.  If she thought it was bad, then so would I.  The apple doesn’t fall too far from the tree.)

In an effort to accommodate us, she asked my bachelor twin if he would give up his room and take the condo instead.  He graciously agreed. I owe him BIG time for that.



(this is my twin, Brian, making his very late grand arrival to the lake)

Poor Brian, the bed was so terrible and nasty, he slept on the couch, which was also nasty.  David mentioned how the place must have really been sub-par if a single guy wouldn’t sleep on the bed.  But then I had to remind him that this was Brian we were talking about.  You see, Brian isn’t just any old bachelor.  This is a guy who is more persnickety than I am.  He lives in Provo’s version of high-rise downtown condos, drives a black BMW, and his condo looks like a model home.  He even took the time to change all the lights in his condo to soft lighting.  It’s the artist in him.  It’s things like this that make the chicks dig him.

Aside from the sleeping arrangement drama, we had a wonderful time at the reunion.  I have 22 nieces and nephews, so the house was certainly busy with activity.  Hannah LOVED every second of it.  She mostly loves kids (of all ages) and all of her cousins were vying for her attention.



This is the Bear Lake in Idaho.  The silhouettes in the picture are my sister’s-in-law and some nieces and nephews.



This is my sister Rachelle playing with Hannah.  Hannah LOVES Rachelle and Rachelle LOVES Hannah. She tells me all the time that she needs a “Hannah Fix.”  I’m sure glad she played with Hannah in the mud because heaven knows I WOULD NOT BE ABLE TO DO THAT.



This is Hannah with her cousin Becky (who is now 18) and Ammon.



Rachelle and Brent brought their sail boat.  I didn’t sail, but David said it was awesome.



This is my brother Ben.  This is one of his classic looks.  You may not be able to tell here, but he is actually having a great time.  He brought up a boat for our enjoyment.  David went water-skiing, and said it was awesome, but kind of like skiing on the ocean.



This of course is Hannah.  She thinks she is the same size as all the big kids.  She tried really, really, hard to boogie board, but her only success was looking cute while trying.

We had a great time and we wish we could do things like this more often as a family.  Our time in Utah is running short, and it was so nice to squeeze in some family vacation time.

Thanks Rachelle and Ang for organizing this, and working out all the details for all 32 of us.

Thank you mom for understanding my standards and making other sleeping arrangements.

Thank you Brian for taking the bullet.  I owe you.  If I made you a cake, would that make it up to you?