Finishing out 2017

With minutes to spare, here is our family newsletter for the year:

Things that didn't make the cut:
-The mice, still
-School pickup. (side note: It has been so cold and I am dreading it so much now even though I don't even have to do it every day.)
-The names of all the places Kevin went, because it would have been a long and boring list. Long Island, New Orleans, Chicago, New York City a few times, somewhere in Massachusetts, Urbana Champaign, Tel-a-viv, Rockville Maryland, and New Orleans again.
-Every song my kids have been obsessed with
-All of our car misadventures
-All the great pictures I was intending to put in. Turns out Google Docs is not the best place to throw together a Christmas card. Haha!

Here are a few of the favorite things I read:
-Essays by E. B. White. I loved it so much I kept returning it to the library and renewing it (because you can only renew twice) and Kevin just decided to buy it for me for Christmas. White is such an incredible writer. So funny, so insightful, so eloquent, so friendly. Someday I want to write like him.
-Leading LDS -- I kind of roll my eyes at the name, but there are some really valuable interviews here that have helped me a lot in several areas of my life.
-Deep Work --aka the ultimate guilt trip of my life since I can get distracted easily.
-David O. McKay and the Rise of Modern Mormonism -- I actually think I finished this at the end of 2016 rather than during 2017, but we'll count it here. It was hard to read about church leaders being humans, but it was also incredibly comforting (since turns out I'm human and I work with lots of humans). The minute I read it I knew that, boy or girl, McKay would be part of my next child's name. And it is.
-The Book of Mormon. I have been reading it at a snail's pace, but I'm reading it. I remarked to Kevin that I probably don't have true anxiety if it can just be fixed by reading the Book of Mormon. But man, there have been days where I have just been so worried about everything (just ask my mom), and then the minute I open it up I am filled with peace.
-Luke 2. This is always a wonderful chapter, but it's really special now because our family memorized a lot of it this month. I loved seeing my kids perk up whenever someone quoted it in church.

- Siblings Without Rivalry -- It has reminded me to see my kids for their whole selves, not just how they might differ from each other. Lots of good reminders in there.

It's been a good, hard, growing year. I had a goal of gratitude for the year, and looking back I really have had a lot to be grateful for. Looking forward to 2018!

Fall Practice

This fall hasn't been an easy one. Instagram took the brunt of my woes -- pictures of cars that had been backed into, pictures of cute children captioned with 5 paragraph essays about what had made that particular day hard, even pictures of food because the fact that I was eating lunch was a monumental event.

And you know the list -- 4 business trips, husband working late every night (although at least he was around for dinner and bedtime when he didn't have Young Men's or Yale events), one kid alternating between angelic and surly, another alternating between delightful and explosive, a baby alternating between easy days and days where he couldn't be set down, multiple cosmetic and mechanical issues for both cars, an emotionally taxing calling for me and a meeting-heavy calling for Kevin, earlier sunsets and colder weather, constant teething (complete with eruption cysts), mice defying the exterminator, freezing apartment, runny noses, and just the constant slog of school, cooking, bedtime, and laundry. Especially socks. Why do kids have to wear socks.

During the early part of the fall, I was also burdened with guilt. Why was I taking everything so hard? Pretty much everyone I knew had it harder than me -- saw their husband less, had a harder baby, had morning sickness, or just had a whole lot more on their plates. And yet they seemed so stoic about it all!

Then one day last week while Kevin was in New Orleans and one of my kids was being incredibly difficult, I handled the situation calmly. "A few weeks ago, I might have raised my voice in this instance," I thought to myself. "And back then there was more sunshine, better temperatures, and better sleep, and I still did better this time." The realization that I had improved at something in life relatively quickly boosted my spirits. I didn't quite know if I had the hang of things, but I was doing better than I was before!

And so maybe that's the secret to becoming stoic about life being hard. You just keep living, and gradually you just keep getting better at dealing with things. I think there's always going to be a little bit of processing and mourning every time a new kind of hard things happens, but we really have it in us to adjust to almost anything. Especially when we have supportive friends and family.

We'll make it through the winter.

Cows and Land

When I was 13 we stopped by Bryce Canyon for a quick visit on the way back from my grandma's house in Kansas. As we looked over Inspiration Point, I read a sign about the history of Bryce Canyon. There was a quote from a Mormon farmer back in the late 1800s where he described Bryce Canyon as a "helluva place to lose a cow."

I looked at my mom in shock. "He's Mormon and he swore!" I said.

"He was a farmer. Farmers just swear sometimes," my mom said.

I was still floored by his language and her nonchalant acceptance of it. Still, it was pretty funny to think of cows wandering around among those hoodoos.

***

A few years later, I hiked the Wellsvilles with my friends. We went up the Deep Canyon way but since we hiked to Wellsville Cone it made sense to go down the Coldwater Canyon route. As we went down the trail, I noticed more and more cow manure. Coldwater Lake was near the end of the trail, and it didn't live up to its name. It seemed more like a tepid, slimy pond that belonged to cows. I couldn't believe that they were allowed to graze up here where we were hiking.

***

Then that summer we went down to Escalante as a family. There were a lot of beautiful slot canyons that we eagerly frolicked through. There was Lower Calf Creek. But there was also a lot of nothing. A lot of nothing.

"This doesn't all have to be National Monument," my mom would say as we drove through the nothing. One night we ate at a local diner. We had learned by then to eat early since everything, even grocery stores, closed by 7 or 8. The owner was really friendly and talked about life in Escalante. The high school had 114 kids grades 7-12. They had done well in 1A basketball that year. A girl in the town was at a treatment center in St. George. since she had gone blind due to anorexia, but she would be okay. There wasn't much fun to do there. My dad thought that was strange since we had driven hours to have fun there.

***

My dad is a connoisseur of small towns in Utah. His favorite is Panguitch, where everything is orderly and friendly. "You know how you come into towns, and the outskirts are just sort of unkempt? Panguitch isn't like that," he explained. There are many other beautiful towns in rural Utah he has a soft spot for. Teasdale. Fountain Green. Elsinore. And I know what he means -- when you drive through the farmland there in early summer and your lungs are filled with the scent of sprinklers and soil, you feel like you could stay forever.

But as I talk to friends from such towns, I hear of quirks. "All they like to do in [some town in Sanpete County] is blowing stuff up and fornicating!" someone from a nearby larger town told me indignantly. Friends talked of friends going to prom with married polygamists. Kids are addicted to their phones there, too. Rural Utah does not seem as idyllic when you think of raising kids there, or going to the doctor.

***

 "You know, ranchers care about conservation too," my mother-in-law remarked once as we drove back from Rock Creek. "We have to treat the land right, rotate things, put the right nutrients into it so we can use it year after year. We're invested in it." As we drove, we would cross cattle guards, and the brief rattling would exacerbate my carsickness. It always seemed strange to me that cattle guards were everywhere -- in the Uintas, in Logan Canyon, in Provo Canyon. I guess cows were just everywhere.

That was when I finally figured out what most of Utah was made up of. All those remote places I had gone growing up -- sand dunes, geode beds, salt flats -- were BLM land. Some BLM land was leased out to farmers and ranchers. Some land was owned outright by the farmers and ranchers. Native American reservations spanned swaths of arid land in Eastern Utah, a small remnant of what they used to have. But every single acre of Utah land belonged to somebody. Mostly to the federal government.

***

Many times when I've gone to Duchesne, I've heard the same sentiments. "People from the East Coast just don't get it. They think land is where you go play. For us, it's where you work, where you live." My experience with land has been primarily playing -- hopping around slot canyons, posing at National Parks, and swimming in lakes. Kevin grew up with land as work -- moving sprinkler pipe, going on cattle drives, and baling hay. And then there are Native Americans for whom land is worship, where they receive spiritual sustenance and connection with their ancestors.

We rely on land for so many of our needs -- for food, for fuel, for sacred space, for recreation, for our homes. And I think the land can provide all of that, as long as we are willing to use it wisely, and as long as we listen together.

500

Ten years ago last week, I started posting on Facebook. When I started, you always had to post in the form of "Kyra Moon is _____," so I got used to writing in third-person. A few months into it, even after the "is" requirement was gone, I posted this status:

Kyra Moon realized today that she thinks in third-person, and thinks about what her status is. Thank you, facebook.

As I've been approaching this my 500th official post, it's been interesting reflecting on how social media has affected how I've thought during the past 10 years of Facebook use and the past 7 1/2 years of blogging.

• Has it affected how I think? I think so. I have definitely practiced the art of describing a thought or event in a funny way. Kevin remarked once that how I wrote on Facebook wasn't quite the same as how I talked. In other words, I'm not that funny in person. (Not that I'm that funny on Facebook. But you can tell I try!)
• In some ways, this has been a good thing. When I wrote about my wisdom teeth seven years ago, I remarked, "Pain is temporary but the story lasts forever" and that's how I've tried to approach misadventures over the past several years. For example, when the car broke down near Joseph's elementary school in September, I consciously thought, "I'm going to see how funny I can make this story," so we played Chutes and Ladders. One major exception to this happened during my sister Kiana's wedding back in August. There were some really funny elements to the occasion, such as the time the stove was just left on and the house was filled with smoke and the terrible stench of burnt potatoes (funny of course because it ended up okay), but when I got mastitis I just didn't have the heart to tell a funny story about it anymore. I really could have, but I was just too sad and miserable to try. In general though, when something bad happens I immediately try to figure out a droll way to describe it. And that's probably good.
• Of course, there have been bad ways that social media has affected how I think. When I have felt lonely in real life, I have relied too much on social media to fill the void, and it has never been satisfying. Most people really won't click on links to my blog when I post them on Facebook. Most people really have their own lives to live and can't (and shouldn't) validate my blog or other social media all of the time. I had to learn that it was okay for me to put on a "performance" when I blog (as opposed to just journaling my life) but I couldn't expect an audience. I had to do it just because I enjoyed it
• As it turns out, most of the blogs I read now are just from friends who journal their lives without much fanfare, and I am glad they do it. I feel a real kinship with friends who comment on my blog and I comment on theirs in return. Although I guess they're still social media friendships, I still feel invested in them as friends because there's a two-way commitment. I am grateful for friends who read my blog, and I am especially grateful for the friends who read my blog that keep me posted about their lives too! 
• Speaking of that, I definitely don't mind nice random strangers reading this (like friends of relatives or friends of friends or whatever . . . I know of a few, but I don't think there are too many). I do like to perform, as I mentioned, and it's fun to think there is someone out there who might have gotten a smirk or two out of what I wrote. I will say, blogging sometimes feels like I've been singing loudly in the shower, gotten dressed and gone down to the living room only to find a group of friends and acquaintances sitting there. It's not that my singing was bad, but I didn't realize people could hear it! (Actually, I now prefer people to not read my blog until I no longer live by them, haha. It gives me more freedom to be goofy.)
• I tend to use a lot of Mormon language in my posts. I probably shouldn't assume that everyone who reads this is Mormon, but I sort of do. I have friends who are good about linking to definitions of Mormon terminology like "ward," "stake," and other such words, but I have never thought to until this exact minute. So, if you are coming from a non-Mormon background and reading this and have no clue what I'm referring to, I'm sorry for my laziness. Also, being Mormon is more fun than drinking coffee, so you should totally join! #sharegoodness
• So, do I regret some of what I've written? Oh, absolutely. I have used "Revert to Draft" plenty of times, even in the last month. This is not the 500th blog post I've published. And certainly not the 500th I've written -- I have 321 drafts right now. And a fair amount of those are fully-formed posts that I wrote with every intention of publishing, only to decide at the last minute that they didn't need to be published. But they sure made me feel better! If I have hurt feelings with anything that ended up getting published, I am really, really sorry. Any resentments I may have ever vented have evaporated, so don't feel guilty about my hurt feelings!
• Incidentally, when I was in 9th grade I found out I learned best by writing. Almost everyone else was a kinesthetic learner so I wondered if I'd answered everything wrong. Now I am 100% sure I learn best by writing. Now if only all that writing came out polished and beautiful . . .
• I have found that I usually shouldn't publish something written after 10 pm or before 9 am unless I've given it a lot of thought beforehand. Those are the posts that have to get reverted to drafts most often. Oh well.
• I don't have too many long term goals with this blog. I have occasionally thought about making a Facebook page that people could like, but I don't want to treat it as something that has to be promoted. I want to be able to post about real life sometimes without feeling like I have to perform, but I am not sure I want a whole new blog for that. Maybe I should just be a guest blogger somewhere else when I need a new outlet, but that might mean I would have to edit and revise what I write, heaven forbid. In general, I think the current model of posting whatever I want is working fine.
• I find I'm gradually changing what I post, not just here but with social media in general. These days I record my life using my blog, my Facebook, my Instagram, my journal, and my letters to my missionary brother. It feels silly to record my life in so many ways in the evenings instead of reading about new things, so I've tried to streamline how I use these media. No more Facebook albums, as much as I loved them. Most of the cute things my kids say will go into my journal now that Joseph has gotten more easily embarrassed by attention. No baby journal for Jacob since his life is plenty documented with Instagram and my journal. When I get to be 75 and decide it's time to compile a life history, it will be a monumental task and I don't need to make it any harder than it already is.
• And finally . . . since this is the 500th post, I thought this blog deserved a slight update. Not a layout update (if it really makes your eyes twitch, you are more than welcome to redesign my blog), but an update of my lists. If you are ever bored and don't have the E. B. White essays on hand to read, you can read a few of my favorite blog posts listed on the left side of the blog under the blog archive. Most of these are posts I put a little more effort into, including posts with funny stories. Of course the best blog posts are overloaded with baby pictures, but those didn't make it on this list of prose posts. They're not E. B. White level, but not much is!

And of course, thanks for reading my blog! Looking forward to the next 500 posts!

The 7 Habits of Highly Effective Babies

Have I mentioned that Jacob is a dream? He is so smiley, so squishy, so good at naps, and so pleasant. I can't even handle it.

But he is more than just a wonderful baby. He is also a great mentor. And he's here tonight to teach us things that will improve our lives and careers.

1. Be proactive. If you see something, you should reach for it.

2. Begin with the end in mind. What do you want? Those blinky lights? Then keep your eye on the ball and constantly review your mission statement.

3. Put first things first. Prioritize the tasks in your life, starting with:

Important and urgent

Attention is important and urgent.

Important and not urgent

He can't really spend the night like this.

Not important and urgent

You really don't have to use the bathroom, mom. Don't leave me. Ever.

And finally not important and not urgent

Don't you dare check your phone if I'm awake.

4. Think win-win. If you go to sleep, then you and your parents will both be happy! If you smile instead of crying and swallowing air, then you won't be uncomfortable and your parents won't have to burp you.

5. Seek first to understand,

then to be understood.

Develop your ethos,

 pathos,

 and logos.

Or legos if you are an older brother.

6. Synergize! You can make a better selfie when you work together with mom.

7. Sharpen the saw. Renew your resources and energy for an effective, happy lifestyle.

Yep, he's got life figured out! And he's helping to keep us happy, too.

When Kevin went [close] to Bethlehem

When Kevin went [close*] to Bethlehem
I think he took great care
To visit all the landmarks, sites
And ancient buildings there

Inside the Church of Annunciation

Exterior of Church of Annunciation

Church of St. Joseph

Between the two churches -- Old Nazareth is down the stairs 

Church of the Multiplication of Loaves and Fishes

Church of the Primacy of St. Peter on the Sea of Galilee

White Synagogue in Capernaum

Carvings in Capernaum

Western Wall

Dome of the Rock

Azerbaijan was his first stop;

Its airport was no shack,

He carried his belongings
In his trusty old backpack

Beatitude Monastery

I think there on the busy roads
That he was meek and mild

And awed at all the tailgating
That made the driving wild

Perhaps when not in conference hours
He walked through holy lands

View from the Jerusalem Center

River Jordan

The Sea of Galilee

A stone from the time of Christ

And spent some time addressing
All his paper's new demands.

Editing is about as fun as a scorpion

And close beside the Garden Tomb

He dimmed the cell phone light

(From a different site, but still fitting)

And held his thoughts of Jesus close
Upon that holy site.

Ancient trees in the Garden of Gethsemane

*I asked him why he didn't go to Bethlehem, and he said it was hard to get to with public transportation on the weekend. Mary didn't use that excuse 2000 years ago when she was pregnant, but there weren't checkpoints back then either as far as we know.

Bananas

This morning I was thinking about the last day Joseph ate a banana. It was February 5th, 2016. We had strongly encouraged him to even though he really didn't want to. And then it turned out he had the norovirus that was going around Michigan right then so he threw up. A few times.

That was the day my mom emailed me to tell me that my Granddaddy was in the hospital with a major stroke. And then I got the second email that he had passed away.

It's a strange association that formed in my mind -- bananas and my Granddaddy. There are better foods to associate with my Granddaddy like the tamales he would make, the asparagus he and my grandma would eat, or even the bread at their house which had seeds in it. But it's been bananas. Every time after that when I would offer Joseph a banana and he would decline, I would remember, "He hasn't had one since my Granddaddy died." And I would miss him again.

Today Kevin had dinner downtown with a guest speaker, so it was just me and the boys doing dinner. Joseph had gotten grumpy over a dose of Vitamin N (No) right before dinner so I braced myself for continued grumpiness through dinner. I got Matthew a banana and started heating up leftovers.

"I feel like having a banana, but I don't know if I want it," Joseph whined. "I mean, I want one, but I don't know if I feel like it."

I acted less surprised than I felt. "Well, you can have one too if you want," I told him and opened one up for him. Be casual, I ordered myself. Don't get excited.

"I like all the peel off, remember?" he said.

Oh, I remembered. Frankly, I was surprised he remembered after so long. After that time in February that he threw up an unwanted banana, I guess the whole trauma of the situation made it so that he refused bananas altogether. He would eat them in smoothie form, but he would barely even touch them in their original shape. After a few failed attempts, we were done trying. It had been difficult even before then to get him to eat bananas, anyway. If there were any spots or if the banana broke while we opened it, he wouldn't eat it. We might have given up trying to give him bananas back then anyway even if he hadn't flat out refused them.

But this banana was fine. There were two little strings to get off, but it was otherwise unblemished. I made it a point to look the opposite direction as he carefully took his first bite of banana in more than 21 months. He took another and then remarked, "This didn't taste as good as I thought it would."

I gave him some salty food so that the banana would taste sweeter in contrast. That helped, and he finished half of it before getting tired of it.

"Sometimes, when I'm having trouble eating a banana, I use sprinkles," I told him truthfully. "Do you want some?" He grinned and nodded, and before long most of the banana was gone. Not the last two bites. But when you haven't had banana in almost two years, it's okay to make a gradual comeback.

And that was that. He eats bananas again.

And I miss my grandpa.

Video Angels

Now that you've completed your winter aerobics, it's time for a plethora of other videos! (Starring mostly Matthew and Jacob.) When I was going through all the videos from the past six months, there were probably a dozen where Matthew sings, "Oh oh oh let's go fly a kite" and then runs over to the camera and asks "Can I see it?" So the video was ruined.

But just so you know, he still sings that every day. Even if we can't get a good version of it.

He sings other songs too. About Batman, often.

He has strong opinions about lots of things, even if we're not sure why.

One of many attempts at catching him singing his favorite song.

The chickens at Edgerton Park have definitely become a favorite.

Joseph is so good at his bike!

The Pout Pout Fish is so fun.

This . . . just ends with adults trying to sing "I Love To See The Temple" but running out of air and being pregnant and stuff. Which isn't as fun as kids singing it. So the first few seconds are the best if you're short on time.

Wouldn't have nodding if I didn't have you.

I meant to do a spotlight when Matthew turned 2, but it never quite happened. This video would have been part of it, but instead you get it here.

And then . . . Jacob was born!!!!

So all the videos turned into minute long endeavors of watching newborn breathing. Can't get any better than that, right? (I didn't have many newborn videos of Matthew so I was determined to make up for this time. It turns out they are actually not as interesting as you think they are when you're making them. But I uploaded some of them anyway. Not all.)

Also, poor Jacob has been toughened up since the minute he got home from the hospital. He's handled it well. It might not even be too long before he's bigger than his brothers!

Matthew sure loves him though.

Oh the arm wrinkles.

This game kept him occupied for minutes. (Right up til the camera came out, of course.)

Jacob was about 3 weeks old for these videos. He is SO SWEET. 

And he makes sweet sounds. When they're this small, every sound they make is magical. 2 minutes worth, even. (I have so many videos in late August-early September it's not even funny.)

Spoiler: He sneezes and yawns in this 2 minute stretch.

I can't believe how much hair he used to have. Or how many long videos I made. Moms of newborns are easily amused, I guess. (Our upload speed is really slow so I feel obligated to share it because it took so much work.)

Aaaaaand back to Matthew! Or should I say, back to Batman!

Definitely in his top 3 favorite songs. Way better than the ABCs or Twinkle Twinkle. (Maybe the Super Why alphabet song is his 3rd favorite, though.)

Jacob loves to suck on his fingers so much. He also likes to engage in activities that promote hair loss.

He hasn't really taken to the pacifier, but he's still fun to watch with it.

Matthew calls spitting up "burping" which has made some funny conversations.

And of course, I have great conversations with Jacob, too.

His laugh is the best sound of my life.

Okay, I guess I was still determined to get a video of him singing "Let's Go Fly a Kite." But he's kind of stopped singing most of the words so it's a bit repetitive.

Sometimes, I realize I live in a magical place where I can less than a mile to see chickens and hear my kids talk to them. New Haven has its bright spots for sure.

It even has squirrels, too! (. . . just like everywhere else. Except maybe Florida?)

Every single word starts with a letter. And that starting letter is always worth saying a few times.

And, finally, to finish off this video dump, here are two little kids being cute.

We sure like them.

Winter Aerobics Course

We're getting to that time of year where only the most disciplined continue to run outside for exercise. The rest of us have moved inside. Tis the season for POPSUGAR fitness and Jillian Michaels if you are like me and not even willing to go outside to the car to drive to a gym.

Well, good news, folks! I have compiled a new aerobics course choreographed by my very own children. If you are looking for new and exciting routines, look no further!

First, let's warm up to some Bon Jovi. 2 years ago, Joseph introduced a routine while Matthew provided a laugh track. Now, Matthew has joined in demonstrating a modified workout which is especially appropriate if you don't feel like exercising. Jacob has decided to provide the laugh track.

The 80s music exercise dance party is just beginning. Next up, we've got some Journey to get our heart rates up to speed.

Let's move into some Rick Astley now. Remember, you can always follow Matthew for a modified version.

And some more Rick Astley.

And some more.

Do you feel rickrolled yet?

Now, it's time for some yoga to cool down.

Or not. Who needs yoga when you can dance?

And finally, we can use some Earth, Wind, and Fire to finish the workout session.

Again, I'd like to thank Joseph for being our dance instructor. Who knew there were so many dance moves in the world?

A house full of females

Kevin went to two conferences in October, and as my post implied, my brain was starting to suffer from the effects of taking care of 3 kids on my own. (I don't know how so many of you do this day in and day out just because of your husband's crazy work/school schedules. I have to remind myself to not compare because otherwise I feel so lame in comparison, especially when I complain haha.) So, it was good to have family come and help me out for a few days.

I picked up my mom, my sister Jennie, and nephew G from the airport Monday night, ate a late dinner, and chatted a bit before heading to bed. We were all exhausted!

Tuesday I decided to walk Joseph to school because good heavens there were two other adults in the house so I could leave the other two kids at home. Unfortunately, we made it out the door late enough that we didn't catch up to Joseph's friend, so he spent the whole way there grumping about how I was no fun to walk with compared with his friend or Daddy. I reminded him that I invented Chutes and Ladders and Cannerland so I was plenty fun, but he didn't agree. So, when I dropped him off and saw his friend's dad there, I took him up on the offer to pick Joseph up the rest of the week. It felt pretty funny to have him come every morning to our house which was so full of grown women who could walk Joseph to school if they weren't asleep on the couch, but I didn't care. (Well, a little.)

After I came back from walking Joseph to school, we made a shopping trip to fill the house with the food everyone liked. Then, my mom and I hurried to Joseph's school where she was a mystery reader who read a couple books to a very attentive and silent group of kindergarteners. The rest of the afternoon was pretty quiet. I was able to pick Joseph up without the other two boys in tow, which was magical. Jennie was so nice and played chess with Joseph. G and Matthew were cute with each other, and Jacob was of course incredibly sweet every single second ever.

I know it's a lot -- the hair, the bod!

What can I say except, you're welcome!

All my mom's grandsons, but not all their faces

It's a lot of work hosting people in a small space (especially a small space that's just awkwardly designed), but we made it work. My mom was so nice to recaulk the bathtub, go shopping multiple times, and help me clean, and she even would have made her delicious salsa for us had she found cilantro at Walmart. (As it turns out, we had some in the fridge, our neighbors have lots, and we recently discovered cilantro hiding in our flower garden, too. Oh well.)

The next day was beautiful and sunny. We headed to the ward playgroup so Matthew could sit on my lap and eat snacks and frown at the thought of playing. At least the rest of us had fun, I think. We grabbed some Chick-Fil-A for lunch, and eventually Kaylie and K showed up to join the party! When Matthew and K saw each other, they started laughing and laughing because that's what they do best (that and dancing).

When Joseph was home from school, we walked down to another park.

Progeny

All the grandkids in one picture. Jacob really is there behind the blanket. Also, we finally used both double strollers!

It's funny -- you sort of expect to do things like play games or watch shows together after kids go down. But I think we were all so tired that we mostly sat on the couch until our own bedtimes. I think I've gotten a bit used to alone time in the evenings so it was different being with people all the time. But it was nice, too. (I thought about it, and I'm pretty sure the last time my mom and sisters Kaylie and Jennie and I were together with just the three of us was probably when Jennie was a baby and Leslie was in school, so it was fun thinking about the three of us being the age of all our kids.)

Thursday morning was another beautiful morning, so off we went to Brooksvale park. We had considered going to the aquarium, but it was far enough and expensive enough that we opted for the park instead. When we saw how happy the kids were to see farm animals at zero cost, we definitely felt like we had made the right choice.

The trees looked a little prettier in person, but yeah. The foliage this year did not exceed expectations.

They loved the miniature horses. And the chickens, and sheep, and bunnies.

Something funny was that we all wore either reds or greens (not including jackets, which were mostly blue). I had been wearing red until Jacob spit up all over it, and then I changed into green without realizing I was still matching everyone.

Trying so hard for another grandkid shot.

After I got Joseph from school and gave Jennie a quick tour of Yale (quick because I forgot which direction some one-way streets went so we just skipped a few beautiful buildings altogether), we headed over to Edgerton Park. I had had such good luck planning enjoyable activities so far, but our luck ran out. I made the mistake of bringing the toddler's trikes along, figuring that they would like somewhere mostly flat to ride around. But everything about that was a bad idea, starting with getting the trikes in the car, trying to convince them to ride the trikes (Matthew doesn't even really ride his unless someone is pushing him, and my hope that seeing K riding hers would help completely backfired), and then having to carry the trikes along with lots of little kids. Oops.

But on the bright side, there were more chickens, and these ones didn't have a "do not feed" sign.

We were even able to make the chickens jump for the clover leaves, which was very entertaining.

I love these two sweet boys together!

From here, we headed over to the elementary school for the art gallery I'd heard about for weeks. I had gotten so many reminders about it that I was sure it was going to be epic.

But my luck had run out as you remember, so it was just us wandering around an empty school seeing a few "All About Me" info pages in the hallways. They were colorful and somewhat poetic, but not quite what we were expecting. I had planned my whole day to make sure we could see these, so it was a bit of a letdown. Oh well! We had bread and soup waiting for us at home, so we bounced back pretty well.

The next morning I got some good playing in with the little kids, which was nice because I felt like I had been so busy doing dishes and nursing Jacob that I hadn't gotten the chance until then. Then everyone packed up, hunted more for a missing bottle (still haven't found it, so I'm guessing some toddler put it in the trash), ate, and then headed out the door. Kaylie left for New Jersey the same time I left to take people to the airport, so we all prayed for safe travels at the same time.

Those two are too cute together!

And we all traveled safely. Thanks for making the trip, everyone!