Merry Christmas 2010

Merry Christmas from Michael Borup on Vimeo.


Merry Christmas everyone.  This year, instead of sending cards (which, let's be honest, we've never done), we made a Christmas video to share.  And as if that wasn't already enough, I thought I'd use this post to give you all an update on our life right now!

Samuel has learned to walk, talk, and give kisses and hugs.  He is our sweet little guy who is always ready to comfort a sad sibling, cuddle a weary parent, and entertain extended family with his big smiles and silly words.  He loves bananas, telephones, and running wildly through the house with his family.

Truman has turned from a toddler to a kid this year.  He loves superheroes, including his very own made-up Super Sock Boy, who runs really fast.  He is afraid of most animals (particularly  cows and dogs) and is kind of a delicate little guy at times, but he still knows how to have lots of wild fun and charm all around him because he is ridiculously cute.

Evelyn Clementine is in preschool this year and so big I can hardly believe it.  She's learning to spell things like, "Famlee," "Party," and, "Rolorty: Kwyn & Kying."  Evie loves to draw with a lot of detail and has pictures all over the house, including a kind of mini-art gallery in her room.  It is fun to have a girl around, and she fills the role well-- she loves to dress up and be pretty, enjoys making her bed and decorating her room, and of course adds a good amount of drama to our lives.

Andrew is in first grade this year.  We put him in a Montessori Charter School this year, and has gone from playing sick as much as he can to LOVING school!  Andrew wants to be an inventor and build his own flying machine.  He loves Leonardo DaVinci, and spends a lot of time building and flying paper airplanes.  He is learning to read well, and one of his favorite things now is reading chapter books together-- we've read a whole bunch of them this year.

I am enjoying this stage of life-- I do a lot of cuddling, reading, hiding, seeking, tickling, dancing, running, laughing, comforting, helping, encouraging, watching...  Phew!  When I put it that way it sounds exhausting.  And I guess it is, but it's also really great.  This year, just for me, I trained for and ran my second marathon.  While training, I got to join a Ragnar Relay team at the last minute and had a really cool experience with that, made some "token non-Mormon friends," and loved it so much we're doing it again next year!  I also started my own in-home personal training business.  I am thankful for a VERY supportive husband.

Michael lost his job this fall, but we immediately saw it as an opportunity.  He started his own video production company, working from home, and has done well already.  Michael is also teaching a new class at BYU-Idaho on video production.  He has really enjoyed teaching there and his students seemed to really like him and appreciate the class.  Michael started a songwriter's group where they write a new song every month.  It's been fun for him to focus a bit on music.  He's also working on a perpetual motion machine. Obvious defiance of the so-called "laws" of thermal dynamics.

This year has been one of peace for us, despite some big changes and challenges.  We feel very blessed to be here in Eastern Idaho and to know that this is where we should be.  We are thankful to have so many good friends and family in our lives to love and support us.

Have fun!

December 9th, 6:30 am: I am enjoying my daily scripture study, etc. and promise myself I will have fun with my kids today.

9:00 am: Sam is standing at the back door watching Evie and Truman, who are playing outside already.  I say, "It's freezing out there, but it looks like they're having fun."  I remember the promise I made earlier and Sam and I get dressed and go join them in demolishing a snowman they made last week.

(Yes, Evie is holding a green knife-- my lettuce knife.
She was using it to "chop" down the snowman.

We only ended up staying out there about 15 minutes (which was fine with me, because I HATE the cold!), but it was so fun and made me feel completely accomplished in a way no amount of folded laundry ever could.  I need to seize the moment like this more...

Here is another post

When I redid my blog, I committed to posting every Sunday.  I have already missed some, I think, so I'm trying to keep it simple.  I'm not going to try to say anything meaningful today, just throw it up here.  So here goes:

Sam started nursery today.  He loves it, as predicted.  

Our nursery boys.  they're eating bread with Nutella on it, which has given
them cute little mustaches. 

We have spent some time out in the crazy snow in our yard, and it's great when we're not freezing to death.  

Sammy in snow gear.  Reminds me of A Christmas Story:
"I can't put my arms down!"

That is all.

Retraction

Michael told me my fish game doesn't look lazy at all-- it looks pretty elaborate to him.  So, okay, I admit, it's not quite as gloriously lazy as I was advertising.  But let me clarify that this is the most work I've done to play with my kids in a long time and it's still a kind of half-baked project.

I guess I was proud of myself for going for it and not over thinking it-- I freehand drew ugly fishies and quickly tied yarn to a string.

I could tell you all sorts of other examples of me being lazy, though...

In Praise of Laziness: Fih

The other day, my kids asked to make a fishing game.  The first thoughts that zipped through my mind were of cute little fish pictures printed from the internet, then neatly colored and laminated, with a magnet or little metal piece glued on right in the center, or even-- how clever!-- at the mouth; accompanied by painted dowel fishing poles with colorful strings attaching them to their "hooks", which would also be very cute.  In thirty seconds I was a little overwhelmed by my vision, and deep-down I knew I would never complete this project with three tiny "assistants", so what I ended up with is this:

Yeah, I know, it's a lame attempt in many ways: the fish are oddly shaped, the paper clips are not place in any logical position, and those fishing poles are pretty darn ugly!  But guess what: I actually finished the project before the kids lost interest, and they had a great time "fishing"!  I am proud of my lazy fish project.  It accomplished its purpose far better than a cuter one would have.

 We just threw them on the ground right there where we made them and went at it.  Sam woke up while they were doing this, and I quickly taped another magnet to a piece of yarn (not even a stick for him!) and let him try it too.  When they were done, Evie got out a gallon size ziplock bag all by herself to put them away in, and labeled it "Fih."  This is going to be a great, lasting kids' game.

Over the River and Through the Woods...

I think the highlight of this week was visiting Grandma Andrews to make bread bears.  This is something my mom and I did when I was little, so I wanted to pass the tradition on.  

Here are Evie and Truman after they just put the bears together.  I forgot to take one of how they looked when they were cooked, though.  Lots cuter, actually.

While we were there, Sam got to hang out with his little cousin, Gerald.

 It also snowed for the first time this week.  So the kids built snowmen.  Evie was the only one to do it at Grandma's though.

Jules helped Evie build a snow-woman.

I helped Truman make this one-- its cuteness kind of matches Truman's.

Andrew built his snowman all by himself!  He's getting WAY too old!

Can't say a lot else happened this week.  But at least there are some pictures.

Ah,Life: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People

Ah,Life: How to Lose Friends and Alienate People This was really well written by my friend Rachel. I think everyone should read it. I really do. Read it. Now!

Halloween

Evie the cheerleader, Samwise the Hobbit, Truman the Sad Pirate (he just woke up), Andrew the vampire

Frodo (cousin Gerald) and Samwise.  Just the right size to be Hobbits!

Umm...

As I was writing last week's post, Sam was getting into the sugar!  He just kept digging his little hands in there and eating it.  He ended up with a kind of sparkly white 5 o'clock shadow.

Aw, but look how happy he is!

Then to follow up on that thought: On Friday Andrew didn't have school and it was a pretty nice day (60's I think) and the kids asked to play outside in the water.  I thought, since they tend to ask on chilly days to play in the water (the days that are nice, but not getting-wet nice), I'd just let them finally learn their own lesson, so I said, "Sure, go play in the water.  I think it's kind of cold for that, but you see how that works for you."

Well... it backfired.  They loved it!  And I thought they were just playing with the hose, but when I went out to check on them they had filled up our empty street trash can and were climbing into it!  I was like, "Oh no, we're so white trash!  That's really gross! But by then it was too late- they'd all been in there and the trash can was pretty well washed out, so I just let them keep doing it!  It's just so much easier not to fight the battles I've kind of already lost, so I just go with it.  But I'm sure the neighbors think I'm crazy!

Too bad I didn't take a picture...

Because we can can can!

I think I tend to be a bit of a control freak.  I'm a compulsive planner and list writer, when I find I have free time, I automatically choose to clean and "accomplish" things, and I tend to put chores before fun. Well, my children are teaching me, very slowly, to let go a little, and while my house might be a little messier on certain days I'd say that for the most part, it's been a really good thing.  

We invited friends, Matthew and Megan over for a "dress up parade" around the block.  It took like 20 minutes to get ready for that 5 minute walk, but the kids were thrilled.  Plus, it was really just the kicker for a couple hours' play time with friends.

When I was a kid, I remember thinking, "Man, mom and dad are so lucky, they can do whatever they want!"  While of course now I have seen it's a little more complicated than that, I wish I remembered more often that freedom I saw so clearly as a kid: I am an adult now, and to some extent that means I can do whatever I want!  So, this summer I tried to let myself indulge in that knowledge a little more.

We spent a LOT of time on the trampoline.  I found that whenever things got tense or frustrating or just kind of boring I could break it up a little by inviting one of my kids to come jump with me.

It has taken some effort for me to purposely walk away from the half-swept floor and the soaking dishes to just play with my kids.  And I have certain neuroses about having friends over or going places without planning it in advance.  But there is something to be said for doing things just because we can.  

The control freak in me had trouble letting the kids use the hose freely like this, but nothing bad happened, and they had a good time.  Sometimes I'm really proud of myself simply for allowing a mess to be made.

This one was actually just last week.  The weather was nice, so instead of worrying about making dinner, cleaning up, etc. after school, I took the kids to Community park to make and fly paper planes.  It was another "Best day" of Andrew's life.  That always makes me feel good.

I know, I'm amazing! (or: Date Night Ideas)

So, dating when you're married gets a little mundane for most of us after a while. It's not that we don't love each other, or even that we don't enjoy each other's company. It's not even a lack of dates in our case (although I'll cover that for you too while I'm here)- the problem is that when you've been together so long and already know each other so well, the relationship gets a little... domestic. I guess I mean that we start just going out to get a break from the kids and the chaos of home, and we start talking only about details of what we may have done lately at work or with the kids, or plans for more boring stuff we're going to have to do later, etc.

DaNae and her new husby, Kevin.

A picture we took for the date Mikey planned

Don't get me wrong- even when it's like this, I love date night- but I think there's more purpose for dating your spouse than just an escape from the kids time/planning meeting. I think dating should be about bonding with an courting each other even after you've been together so long you already feel like you probably know every answer they'd give to every question you could think to ask. David O. McKay once said, "Too many couples have come to the alter of marriage looking upon the marriage ceremony as the end of courtship instead of the beginning of an eternal courtship." (Improvement Era, June 1956, p. 396.) I agree. So for Christmas I gave my newly married brother a jar full of date ideas I compiled- stuff you can do on the spot for little or no money. I'm pretty excited about it, so I decided to share my list here.

Going Out:

• Buy a cheap piece of furniture or decor item, etc. at a DI, a yard sale, or a consignment store- take it home and fix it up into something you like for your home.
• Buy one of everything in the bulk food section, just for fun.
• Go to a store and try things on for each other- sexy or silly- you decide
• Sample a new kind of produce
• Temple visitor's center or temple grounds
• Go for a drive, look at houses and plan your dream home
• Play at the park (on the playground!)
• Go to the dollar store and pick out three items that say something about you- swap items and try to guess what your love is saying about him/herself
• Go to a campground just for the evening- cook dinner over the fire and enjoy the solitude
• Photographic scavenger hunt.-- Make a list of things to get on camera, then do it together or race
• Go for a walk/hike
• Find a random act of service to do together
• Visit an elderly person you know or a nursing home.
• Browse antique stores, yard sales, thrift shops... buy a gift for each other or just window shop
• Read children's books to each other at the library... talk about your favorite books
• Play a sport together
• Progressive fast food dinner
• Watch a movie in the car with a laptop or portable DVD player. Bring your own snacks or get takeout
• Go people watching
• Get a video camera and interview random people on the street, at the mall, etc. - (Think of one question/theme for everyone)
• Chalk attack someone's house (write them messages/draw them pictures in sidewalk chalk)
• Go see a play. (Many place give free admission to volunteer ushers).
• Go window shopping. Don't bring money!
• Play catch or frisbee at the park
• Practice kissing in a carwash... try different flavors of lip gloss
• Frisbee golf (Freeman park)
• Borrow a kid (until you have one) to play with
• Driving range (use borrowed clubs and/or balls)
• Go to fast food in formal wear- bring your own tablecloth, china, candles, etc.
• Donate blood/sell plasma :) together
• Batting cages, mini golf, or go-karts
• Go to the temple
• Go rollerblading or walk at a park or the river... feed the ducks
• Go star gazing or cloud watching
• Go to the library and learn/research something
• Go to a random place like a park gazebo or walking bridge and order pizza to be delivered
• Kissing photo tour: take pictures kissing in as many locations as possible
• Test drive a car

Staying In:

• Play a game- cards, dice, board game, etc.
• Finger paint- portraits of each other, yourselves, your house, etc.... try using your toes
• Set goals together
• Sit outside in the still night together- drink hot chocolate or lemonade
• Read a book together
• Cut pictures from magazines to write your story
• Make a junk sculpture
• Dance
• Indoor Picnic
• Learn/memorize a song to sing or play together
• Play video games
• Arm/leg/thum/actually wrestle
• Write a story together
• Put together an obstacle course/crazy olympics
• Try a 20 second kiss- use gum and a timer... then watch a romantic movie
• Learn to make an oragami object
• Cut out magazine pictures and make a collage of your goals... hang it somewhere- studies say that those who write their goals down and display them are much more likely to achieve them
• Make a calendar with important dates-- decorate it with photos, art, and goals you've set together
• Play with paper mache
• Dinner sculpting/food fight/feed each other- play with your food!
• Ice cream/rice krispie treat sculptures
• Make a list of things to do in your city/on campus at your school... plan to do them before you move!
• Build a house of cards
• Scrapbook/journal/blog together
• 20 questions
• Make a picture book from old magazine pictures and paste-together text.
• Make playdough!
• Watch a movie on mute- make up the dialogue yourselves
• Hide and seek
• Make a life list-- things you want to do "someday"
• Build a fort to eat/sleep/play / read in
• Massages- learn technique or just go for it
• Look through your high school yearbooks
• Draw/paint/color a picture together/for each other
• Give each other marker tattoos
• Fix up/rearrange something around the house
• Plan a dream vacation... go to the library/book store/internet for more detail
• Watch a chick flick
• Do each other's hair crazy/ play dress up-- take pictures
• Paper airplane race/contest
• MAke sock puppets- record a puppet show together
• Decorate cupcakes/cookies/whatever
• Learn to make friendship bracelets
• Cook something/make up a new recipe
• Have breakfast (or any meal) in bed
• Take pictures
• Put a puzzle together
• Take turns teaching each other something new...How to change a tire, bake something, etc.
• Write a song together
• Decorate old shirts
• Blindfold- guess things by taste/touch/smell, etc.
• Answer Newlywed Game questions together- see how many you get right...

To Talk about:

• Play a word game- synonyms, rhymes, ghost, etc.
• Random memory of the two of you
• Something you felt today... ("Today I got really excited/upset/happy when...", etc.)
• A favorite thing/something you're thankful for... (Besides each other)
• Something you secretly wish
• A personal goal you've never shared
• Something you appreciate about each other
• An inspiring person in your life
• A random childhood memory
• Something you dislike (that you've never shared)
• A favorite teacher you had
• Tell about your best friends growing up
• Desert island game: 3 things you'd take- different categories (songs, books, outfits, people, foods, etc.)
• If you had to spend a million dollars today, what would you buy? If it had to be frivolous, what would you buy?
• Tell about something you really wanted as a kid. Did you get it?
• Tell about your childhood imaginary friend
• Your favorite physical feature (about yourself)
• Who would play you in a movie about your life?

The Happenings of 2010

Wow, it's been such a long time since I've blogged it's going to be really hard to fill in.

We are still teaching primary, with pretty much the same kids-- turns out we would have only had like 3 kids in our class, and the older boys class would have ended up with two fighting sets of brothers, so they held our class back another year!  The kids were pretty disappointed at not getting to split up the boys and girls, but they like us so it turned out okay.

For our anniversary, Mikey had to shoot a video in Salt Lake, so his boss paid for us to go down there early together and celebrate before the shoot (the morning they filmed, I drove back home and he stayed for another night or two).  We mostly walked around downtown and just relaxed together, and it was nice.

I quit my job at the YMCA and started my own business.  I've been kind of stagnated on it, though, by my inability to sell myself.  I am still struggling with this, but I've had a couple clients and need to just overcome fear through action I think.

Andrew graduated from Kindergarten at Edgemont.  He played sick so many times that we decided it was a good idea to try a new school, so when a new Montessori charter school opened here, we got him in, and we're really thankful for that chance because he loves school so much more this year.










Sam turned one.  I let him eat cake batter before the cake that night.

With Sam I have learned a lot about not being a control freak-- to just relax and enjoy things.  He is a blessing in that way and many others.

We went camping several times.  Once we went to Preston and camped with Michael's brothers for a week.  It was AMAZING.  Albert Moser campground in Cache National Forest is really a good one.

Truman's Dirty Camping Face

  I did a bunch of running.  Because I was training for a marathon, I had the chance to fill in for a Ragnar Relay team at the last minute.  I met the people I ran with the day we drove down to Utah, and spent the following four days with them-- most of it crammed in a smallish SUV covered in sweat.  Talk about learning to make friends quickly!

My Ragnar Relay Team: Katie, Chipper Chard (Brandon), Dave, Anna, Doug, Roger, The other van's driver (don't know his name), Brian (he's not really naked!), Me, Sheryl, and Sharon.  Not pictured: Johanna, Joe (our driver), and someone else I think is missing, but I can't think of who it is right now.

The marathon was fun too-- I ran about 13 minutes slower than I hoped, but I made a new friend and I finished feeling like I did my best.

Michael lost his job in August.  After the initial kick in the face of this unexpected job loss, we both agreed that it was a blessing: he really has been wanting to find a way to move on anyway.  Now he's doing freelance and slowly building that up while working as adjunct faculty at BYU--Idaho.  We have been surprisingly low-stress about it and believe things are going to be great very soon in this area.  This experience and my ability to handle it has made me grateful for our struggles in Utah, and for the Dave Ramsey program we had started.  We had money in the bank and were working hard on paying debts off, and more than anything we had a calm presence of mind for the situation when it came.




Next week, blogging should be a bit easier...

Starting Again

I haven't blogged in a while.  Maybe it's because the title, "To My Faraway Friends," reminded me that I wasn't sure anyone was even reading.  Not that it bothers me, though-- I mostly like the idea of blogging because it makes a good journal (if I ever print it out!).  I will never be a scrapbooker, so putting my thoughts down with pictures in this way is really my best way to document our life.  

Anyway, so I decided to change things a little bit and try to do this regularly again.  

To me a dandelion bouquet is the embodiment of how "the joy of motherhood comes in moments," as Elder Ballard once said.  It is my goal to live each day in the moment, to "enjoy the doing a little more, and the getting it done a little less," to focus on the joys of the day instead of simply the never-ending task lists I could be following.  

I want to use this blog as a celebration of the moments of my life, and as a reminder to enjoy those moments.  

Two Amazing Women

I'm really grateful to be living closer to family right now, since it gives me more opportunities to visit some really incredible relatives and role models of mine and gives my kids a chance to know them as well.

Yesterday Evie and I attended a tea party her namesake, our Aunt Evelyn's home. It was a blast visiting and dancing with all my cute girl relatives, and I also got this really great picture of the Evelyns together. So cute!

During Christmas time, Mom talked me into driving to Ashton with her to visit my Great Grandma Della, who is probably the sweetest, most positive lady I know. I LOVE her! I am so grateful that my kids at least had a couple chances to meet her. She is their only living great great grandmother, and she is wonderful. (I did get a picture of my kids and Grandma Della too, by the way, I just thought I'd post one of me and my mom, since my kids are all over this blog.)

Our Chalk Family

I just found this picture of our last warm-enough-to-play-outside day of 2009. We did sidewalk chalk and I think we also had a picnic that day on the porch. While we ate quesadillas with our coats on for our final picnic of the year, we were joined by a chihuahua from next door, which we lovingly named... actually I don't remember what we were calling it, but it turned out to be a she not a he and it turned out to be our neighbor's dog who just got out for long enough to have a bite of cheesy tortilla and say "Yo quiero taco bell." (Okay, I made that last part up).

(Note the hoodies Andrew drew on me and himself- how cute! I also think Sam has laser vision in this drawing.)