Thanksgiving 2015

We just had our 9th Thanksgiving in Alaska. That means we should be getting good at some of our own traditions, I suppose. But it seems that while Christmas is laden with tradition, this holiday of giving thanks is a lot more flexible by the year. In 9 Thanksgiving holidays in Alaska, we have spent the day with 5 different groups of people. One of these years, it will be my turn to  host--but this was not that year. The weather is as fickle as we are at Thanksgiving Tradition.  Last year we had sheets of ice on the roads, and carrying food up a driveway and to the door was more than a little precarious. Another year was a major snow storm where we barely made it through the streets. This year we had wet roads with fog.

We were grateful to spend time with my second cousin Lindsay Weston and her sweet family. Lindsay is a beautiful and gracious host, and we always enjoy spending time with her family.

A table for the adults, then of course the kid table. Kenny and Lindsay Weston hosted, and their brother's family was there as well--Andy and Shalee Weston. It was a good group, and we really enjoyed the company.

This was the quietest, most well mannered kids table I have ever seen. I was so impressed with the appropriate level of noise and interaction at this table, which allowed for the adults to enjoy some adult time at the grown up table.

The kids had planned a super cute skit depicting--in completely original form--the pilgrims coming over from England. It began with 4 year old Kelsey shouting "Guards! Get them!" and it only got better from there. The Weston kids saved a spot for my kids to participate, but Alina was too little and David wasn't really interested. Until he found out they needed a tech guy. So he stood at the light switch and house lights went down then up with each scene change. (It was such a good reminder to me to let David shine where and how he wants. He's not a performer on stage as much, but he was bursting with excitement over his part as the kid that controlled the lights and fan.)

Lindsay had recently taken her kids to the high school play, so they didn't miss a single beat with what should be included in a grand production. Costumes? check. Memorized lines? check. Drama? check. Fan to make it windy on a stormy night at sea? check. Lights going up and down with each scene change? check.

Over the last week, I have reminded David several times that he is the family expert on the Pilgrims. We studied them extensively last year in our history home school curriculum, and he picked up a book by Rush Limbaugh that makes the characters come to life for him. He has read that book at least a dozen times, and many of the facts presented as historical fiction are well researched. David knows the story of the pilgrims really well. But he somehow doesn't know that he knows them. Next year I'll have to remember to pull out all of our short stories about he pilgrims so our  memories are a little better refreshed.

April General Conference 2015

 When I decided to extend my trip, I was really excited at the prospect of taking my kids to Temple Square for General Conference. I have lots of memories from different eras of my life where I would go to Temple Square with my family. Some of us would sit on the lawn listening to the talks over loud speakers, others would go inside one of the buildings where the sessions were being broadcast. I was so grateful that my Dad was able to quickly rearrange his reservations for rooms at Little America in Salt Lake so that he had enough room for my little family. It was much easier to pay for an upgrade than to pay for our own hotel room! 

Once we were settled into the room, we went down to City Creek to look around. This was the first time I spent a lot of time in this new mall that the church developed a few years back--the old ZCMI mall has given way to a beautiful place! The Church builds nothing second class, and this mall area met all the standards of beauty that I recognize in church properties. (I should also mention that this area of development that the Church does is not with tithing money--it is paid for in cash, through all the business ventures of the Church. The church operates entirely in cash mode for all of their dealings. The sacred money of tithing is used spent carefully to directly build up the church--such as building/maintaining more church buildings around the world, providing lesson manuals, etc.)

We took the train 5 blocks in to reach City Center.

Grandpa is so good at relating with David. They were real pals over the course of our stay.

Anyway. Once we were at the central area with all the splash pads and water fountains, David got right down to business and tried to see down the drains. How many pictures do I have of this boy trying to inspect the mechanical features of drains and vents?

Alina, on the other hand, was more interested in chasing the birds.

Until she saw the escalator. Then she preferred to ride that up and down.

Alina was thrilled to finally have the freedom to push her stroller, instead of just ride in it.

It wasn't long before Tanya and her family showed up. David and Cayson pulled up front row seating to the waterfall.

It would have been fun to be a pigeon at their feet, but these two were a couple of peas in their pod with whatever they were discussing over the there.

Meanwhile, Alina showed her interest in all things pretty and shiny. Sorry, baby girl, Daddy's not here today to buy you your first Swarovski crystals.

We spent a little bit of down time in the hotel room before bedtime, then we called it a night so that we could go onto Temple Square in the morning for conference.

Between  the morning and afternoon sessions of conference, my family has a designated spot where we meet up for lunch. We all bring coolers full of lunch food, and we enjoy each other's company. After nearly 3 full weeks, Alina was finally warming up to cuddles on Grandma's lap. The treat that Grandma offered certainly helped win her over, too.

Such a beautiful place--This is the temple were the Sam and Carmin Sponseller family started when we were married here nearly 10 years ago.

I was met with limited success at trying to get photos with my children around the Christus statue.

Since Shayla was fresh off her mission, one of her friends hooked her up with some great tickets in the Conference Center. This building seats 22,000 people, and my sister and I went to the Sunday morning session with these golden tickets: Look in the bottom left corner, they were distributed from President Monson's office. We had pink tickets, which means we got special treatment wherever we went. We had to have our bags checked through security, but once we waved our ticket at any usher, they just kept pointing us farther and farther forward in the auditorium level seating.

We ended up in Row 13--which was amazing proximity to the pulpit. Thank you to my sisters, Dacia and Capri, who watched my kids while I went in during this session!

The hotel had a swimming pool, and I couldn't get enough of how cute this little girl looked in her shiny new swimsuit. David was too fast for me to snag a photo in his Superman swim suit, but he sure had a good time! 

Many thanks to the older cousins that helped to entertain my kids in the water. They kept them safe and showed them a fun time! I was in the water for a while, but when the splashing got to be too much, my kids continued to play with their cousins, Uncles Logan and Matt, and Grandpa.

I went to Deseret Book to look around, and I got to pin the only pin representing Anchorage.

We went out to Cheesecake Factory for dinner (which just about did me in . . . it was a little stressful with the long wait for food, and my kids were getting rowdier by the minute). I'm sure there's a photo somewhere of the whole group, but here's a boy, patiently waiting for his mac 'n cheese.

Alina did a few silly games as well while we were waiting.

A few more shots from the lawn at Temple Square. 

She looks hot and tired to me in this photo . . . I hope she took a nap right after this!

After two days of staying in a hotel, attending conference, playing with cousins, swimming in the hotel pool, and enjoying ourselves, we headed home. David had a keen interest in the fact that Grandpa's van had a "wheel hump" in it. I don't think he was supposed to be sitting on it--Grandpa asked him to stay on the seat, and just sit next to it. 

But sometimes David's curiosity gets the best of him. He intended to fully obey Grandpa in that rule--I can tell by the seat belt still being fastened around his waist.

When this kid sets his mind to something, there's no stopping him. Oh, he tries to resist and do just what he is asked to do . . . but this is usually how it ends up. He finds a compromise that he finds suitable (even if the other parties involved may not agree to the compromise.)

As for Alina, she was tuckered out as well.

This marked the end of our stay in Utah. All that was left once we arrived back in Mapleton was to pack our suitcases and head back to the airport the following day. We were ready to be reunited with our Dad, but we were sad to say goodbye to Grandma and Grandpa's wonderland filled with their love.

BYU--Bowling

As the weeks whittled down to days, we went back to BYU for one more outing with cousins. We couldn't leave the area without taking David bowling at BYU. 

He was happy to help with Alina's stroller. When David chooses to be, he is the most attentive big brother. I suppose every little boy has moments where he would rather torment and tease than be kind to his sister. Thankfully, these two generally get along really well. 

While we were bowling, Alina snuggled in to a nap on Grandma's shoulder. Later on this evening, I took her to the doctor, and she had pneumonia of all things. We were so grateful that we caught it when we did, so it wasn't a scary middle of the night rush to medical care. We started her on antibiotics, and the next day she was back to her perky self. At least she was too tired to care that Grandma was the one holding her--Alina was quite reserved for most of our trip, and Grandma didn't get too many of these cuddles.

We had a lane for the little kids, who celebrated just to see the ball leave their little ramp. Cute David and Paige had a "pick me up and twirl me" celebration dance with each successful knock down of any pins.

Waiting . . . waiting . . waiting . . . looking good . . . 

And I got them!

We grabbed another cone from the creamery, and paid a visit to the fudge counter in the bookstore before heading back to Mapleton. BYU is one of our favorite traditions when we visit Grandma and Grandpa!

Iditarod 2015

We broke tradition this year in where we watched the ceremonial start of Iditarod 2015. We went to the finish line, which happens to be about a mile from our home. Because of this, we gathered up our gear and our stroller and walked in to the event. We were the pedestrians on the road with cars and buses going past us, because our stroller needed the firmer pavement under the wheels. The pedestrian pathway had soft, mushy, wet snow--and we couldn't kick it in to 4 wheel drive well enough until we moved to the road.

This was the first year that we splashed through puddles (instead of over snow banks) to find the mushers. In fact, the race start has been moved North to Fairbanks, and the organizers are hoping that the new location is far enough North that the ground and rivers will be frozen for the mushers. While the rest of the country seems to be having a winter apocalypse, Anchorage has had "the winter that never happened."

The glistening on the ground was puddling water, not ice as one might expect. But it was in the high 30's and windy, so we were dressed for the duration of being outside.

Alina loved seeing "uh-dah"--which is Alina speak for any animal, particularly "a dog."

David liked our adventure--he was hanging back and running to catch up with us until I insisted on being the caboose on our single-file-walk in. He found a great walking stick for his size, and used it to get him to the race finish line. Once we got there, I think he realized that his feet were wet through his boots (what, may I ask, is the trick to finding boots that don't leak with a 6-year old boy wearing them? He seems to be hard on boots, and I find out that his socks are getting wet when we still need them to keep his feet dry for several more weeks.)

Anyway, once David figured out that his feet were wet, his mood turned sour (understandably so, poor guy!). He really wanted to ride in the stroller, but settled for a short time of being lifted up by Dad instead.

We ended up taking the shuttle bus back to the school across the street from our house, so the walk home was not as tiresome. As soon as we sat down, my little Sweet Pea closed her eyes, and didn't wake up even when we got off and it started sleeting on her little face. 

We made it home--with just enough stamina for one more smile. 

The ranger on the bus told us that the Campbell Creek Science Center was hosting a special exhibit to learn more about the Iditarod. As soon as he heard "Science Center" David wanted to get off at that stop. But we convinced him to go home first, get dry shoes, and right after a bite to eat, Daddy and David went back out for another adventure. David was proud to answer a question about the Iditarod, so he was given a wooden plaque. 

Birthday Evening

 Clearly I need a personal photographer to attend my family's events, because when I host, I don't seem to pull out the camera enough! For David's birthday dinner, we invited over some of our favorite people--Joshua and Shasta Petersen and Amy Russell. They showered our boy with love and gifts on his big day. How on earth did I let the evening pass us up without getting David in a photo with each of them? Oh, how we love the people in our lives that love our boy so well.

The menu was vaguely familiar from previous years . . . Tortelini (plain for David, with Pesto for the rest of us), peas, and ice cream salad.

For his cake, David requested a chocolate train cake. I'm currently teaching cake decorating at our homeschool coop. I know how to make beautiful cakes. Somehow my kids still settle for the simple. They don't seem to mind, but maybe one of these years I'll plan ahead enough to make an amazing cake for my kids' birthdays.

It officially takes two hands . . . this boy is growing up!

David had been anticipating his presents all day, and I kept telling him that he would open them after we ate dinner. The second he finished his serving of plain Tortellini, David walked over to the present pile and helped himself. Some of the adults were still serving up their plates for dinner, and he was already opening gifts. I let him go with the momentum, then the next day I explained the courtesies of waiting to be given gifts, not just helping yourself. But a the time, it was innocent enough--and the birthday boy was very grateful for his new toys!

He didn't waste any time getting those boxes opened and trying a few things out. The straw set with all the connector pieces was really fun, and provided some of the funniest laughs of the evening. By the next morning, it was designated as a bath toy only since David had more fun blowing water out of the straws than he had sucking it in. That kind of fun belongs in the bath tub, not at the dinner table. But it sure gave us some good laughs for the evening!

One of the connector pieces was a "T", which meant 2 people could suck out of the same straw at the same time. I was the brave soul that humored my boy. Let's just say that David's mouth was closer to me than the cup of water, so I lost my appetite for the fun when I realized the route of the water through the straw. Funny? Absolutely? Disgusting? Yep, that too.

While the adults continued to chat, David broke out one toy at a time. He didn't waste any time on opening up the wood building kit from Nana and Pappy.

We also took some time to sit David down and interview him on camera.

David loved the attention of having the spotlight on him--with all the adults and the camera watching him, he really hammed it up. I'll have to go back and watch the interview to capture a few of his answers in a blog post sometime.

Happy Birthday, David! We love you, and we love having you in our family!

Birthday Wake Up Call

 David woke up to our tradition of a decorated door. True to form, David was careful to leave the streamers in place. We've done this for him several years in a row now, and he has yet to try and run through the streamers and pull them down. . . . Maybe the streamers will be vertical and horizontal on his 7th birthday.

But that's jumping ahead. This is the year that we celebrate SIX!!! Happy 6th Birthday, David!

(and Tanya, your little birthday friends are the gift that keep on giving at our house . . . )

I pulled out the aebelskiver pan, and I think a new tradition has been born. Little pancake balls with jam in the middle? Yes, please. 

Also true to form, David's request was that I light the candle several times so he could blow it out again and again. We had a slow morning, so we whittled that candle down to nothing, one Happy Birthday song at a time, followed by a huff and a puff from the birthday boy.

David approved of the aebelskivers.

And of the repeated use of the candle.

The rest of the day was ahead of us, and we had lots of excitement to anticipate. By this point, we had already gone ice skating as a family over the weekend and David had already chosen his helium balloons. This year, instead of a themed helium balloon, David chose four solid colors . . . one representing each member of our family. David's was green, Daddy's was blue, Alina's was pink and mine was purple. He was very thoughtful with his selection, even if we failed to get a photo of that celebration bouquet.