BECOME

When we moved to Lehi in 2018 we moved into a neighborhood with some DEEP rooted culture. I remember when my husband called and spoke to Bishop Lewis he said, "You are moving into the best ward and neighborhood in Lehi!" While I'm sure he has a biased opinion, because he has never lived anywhere else in his life, he wasn't wrong to some degree. 

Part of that culture was built upon a logo. A logo that had meaning to many, a logo that would BECOME a part of everyone's household. This particular logo was a mountain with a flag at the top of its peak. The Become mountain belongs to the Lewis family and is where they raise their cattle. Hiking the summit of the mountain has been a family tradition for the Lewis' for many years. Unfortunately, there is no trail and it is steep and rocky which makes it a difficult trek. 

Every June, the Westfield 1st ward chooses a day and sets their alarm for 3:30 am to meet in the church parking lot to caravan to the Become Mountian. The early summer morning brings grumpy kids and tired parents but the excitement and comradery is something undeniable. The 30 min drive is quiet but the spirit is strong as the leaders begin to recount what the trek strives to embed in them. 

The word become can be defined as "begin to be" or "to undergo change or development." Climbing a mountain can often be described as something that is difficult and challenging because of all the obstacles, preparation, and endurance it takes to get to the top. This is how it is while trying to become like our Savior, Jesus Christ. At times it may seem like a daunting task, especially when you're at the bottom looking up! As you stick to the course or the trail, you gradually go up and up and up. Together, in the Westfield 1st ward, we are striving to BECOME like our Savior.

My son Ryan was feeling particularly excited for this hike and decided to have the BECOME logo shaved onto the side of his head. Our ward also has a BECOME truck(the priests fixed it up and is now available for anyone to use for free) a BECOME garden(community garden) and all the BECOME apparel you could imagine. Although it may seem overkill to some, to us, it is a constant reminder of who we are striving to BECOME like-our Savior, Jesus Christ. 

Family Pictures 2014

 Family Pictures 2014 taken by Veronica Reeve in Ogden, Utah.

June 2014

6/26/14
The month isn't even over yet, but this has been one of the hardest months I've had in a while. Emotionally, physically and mentally. I just can't seem to kick whatever is getting me down. My thoughts are kind of all over the place and I don't know exactly what it is I want to write down so I might just have to keep it to myself. Writing is therapeutic for me and I have missed writing on the blog. So here's a little recap of what's been going on this month starting with the kids.

Lucy: Cute. Attached to Mom. Attached to Mom. Attached to Mom. Has had diarrhea for 15 days. Been to the Dr. twice. Has a ear infection. On antibiotics. She spits it out. Front Two upper teeth coming in. Waking up at night. Only wants Mom. Only wants Mom. Only wants Mom. We love her to pieces and can't imagine life without her. She loves climbing up the stairs and she loves being chased and totally gets it and will play it with you. She gets the cutest little sly expression when she's doing something you don't want her to and just the cheesiest grin. 

Paige: She turned 3 on June 11th. We had a great time having a pool party at our old bishops house. Lots of kids were able to come and I let her wear her life jacket so she'd actually have a good time. I have her in swim lessons with the same teacher as Ryan had last year-Juliet. It's been a TOTALLY different experience with Paige. She's stubborn and cried EVERY day for 2 weeks when I took her. The last week she gave up and realized she was going no matter what and just started going happily-saying good-bye to us, excited to put her swim suit on etc. etc. She didn't progress as fast as Ryan and is needing more lessons(she's not happy about that now and is digressing back to the crying....) but she also had never had any lessons beforehand like Ryan had. Who knows what's going to happen. She's a little sticker. So on a positive note Paige is a sweetheart. She will talk your ear off day and night. I mean you can tell her to stop talking but it's only a matter of seconds(really) before she starts up again. She's ALWAYS talking to someone in her head too. It's pretty funny. Chris asked her who she was talking to the other day and she just laughed. Her imaginary friend's name is Lacia (Lass-see-ah). For about 6 months now actually. It's so funny-it really makes us laugh and how she came up with that name we have no idea! She LOVES to be with Ryan 24/7 and hates it when he wants "alone" time in his room. She cries and screams.  She's very forgiving of me and my frustrations with her. She knows when I'm sad and hugs me and tells me nice things about me. She loves to snuggle and chat in bed at night. She LOVES listening to primary songs on my phone. She's all about routine at bedtime and books and prayers are a must! She loves to color and paint and make treats and eat treats. 

Ryan: Summer has been VERY hard for him. He misses seeing his friends and as much as I try hard to have many play dates-for Ryan it's never enough. Sometimes with him I feel like a failure mom. Whatever I do is never enough and now that he's getting older I can get a glimpse into what the tweens and teenager years are going to be like. HARD. I think though it's me and how I handle things and look at things. I need to get more on his level. Another place another time for that subject though. Ryan is VERY helpful. He is really into asking "Mom(or Dad...or even Whitney!) is there anything I can do to help?" Sometimes, it comes at just the right moment when I'm stressed with Paige and need him to watch over Lucy or go grab me a diaper or change out the laundry. It's awesome and he's a little angel for that. He's really into all things Star Wars right now. Loves his Legos and Super Hero's. Watching shows on Netflix(I have a love/hate relationship with that thing) playing games on the Wii and even playing "Moms and Dads" or "Baby" with Paige. We got a trampoline and finally got it put up the beginning of this month and that has been a lot of fun for all the kids. (Lucy likes to crawl around really fast on there! No jumping allowed when she gets on there though)

Ryan and Paige: argue and bug each other to the max! But they also love each other to the max as well so that's good. :) I know what it's like to be with someone 24-7(Mission) and it's HARD. I wish we could make more time to just have alone time with the kids but when Dad gets home from work it's fun to play all together!

Chris: Excited to write an update about him that does not involve school and tests! Wahoo. But now I get to write that it's bills, projects, work and church. Haha! Work is going well and he's really happy there. There was a week that Dr. Karl was gone and Chris was all by himself. It was great for him but for sure hard. He loves the people he works with and he says that a big part of why he loves his job. He's working hard to build up how many patients he sees since that determines a large part of how much our paycheck is. He recently got called to be the 2nd counselor in our ward. That was a big change for us but he's doing a wonderful job. We still hardly know people in our ward since we've only been here two months now. His great grandmother Luella passed away and so he took a quick trip with Ryan to attend the funeral in Ramah, New Mexico.

Karen:  Trying to keep my head above water-sometimes I'm drowning and and sometimes I'm swimming in the clouds-whatever that means

The month of August

August we were busy with our 6 yr anniversary, visits from grandparents and the birth of Lucy. I wasn't sure where to get newborn pictures taken and I had got a recommendation about a really sweet lady who has a studio in her home. Chris and I went together and we had such a great time and Lucy did amazingly well. We didn't love how the pictures turned out, but here are a few none the less. 

Chris gave me a gift card to go get a message and facial. It was so great and I loved every second of it!! 

For our anniversary this year I had a week of things prepared for Chris. We weren't planning on going out so we could save money but I still wanted to make it special for him. I had some help from friends in the ward too. I borrowed a play station from Tyson Davis and I rented his favorite game(Need for Speed), I had Anita Lee make us her yummy Cinnamon Rolls. I had the Pallets watch the kids on our anniversary night(Sunday) and we made steak dinner together. I did something else, but I can't think of what it was(it was 10 months ago...)

She doesn't like her car seat but when she does she's just so sweet to look at.

Dressing up.

My attempt and braiding. I'm horrible at it but this was pretty good for me.

Grilling pineapple and asparagus 

Oh Paige...ALWAYS picking in between her toes. In this particular picture she actually said when I asked her what she was doing, "Poop in there." Oh my, it was sooo funny!

Took the boys to the pool-adorable.

Whit and Zoey stole me away one Saturday for Zupas lunch. Love my friends :)

 We hit up the Children's museum and the kids had a blast in the empty store.

We love when the grandma comes and bakes for us :)

And this is why she is so stinkin' cute

And her too....although this isn't her best picture. I just love babies. I honestly will be so sad when I can't have them anymore.

John and Shirley came down for a day to meet Lucy. We are blessed to have such wonderful and supportive parents.

Papa and Paige are two peas in a pod

Paige is definitely interested in Lucy and her daily routines. She's always aware of what she's doing and is always asking questions about her.  

Ryan, as I predicted, has been such a sweet brother. 

Why I love babies...
Oh just looking at this pictures warms my soul. What a feeling I can't describe fully. Just a spiritual bonding so close to my heart. And those little hands tucked under her chin, her soft breaths I can feel on my chest and that little bum poking up in the air are just a few of my favorite things.

A much needed pedicure with my mom. 

I can't remember when we did this, but I had to go to Nordstrom for something or other this month and my mom was with me. She saw these towels and we just thought they were so funny!