Special Weekend

Kind of a boring week-and-a-half 'round here. But sometimes those are the best times to write about because you're digging a little bit deeper - it's easy to report on the surface stuff... but the things I enjoy going back and re-reading the most are the thoughtful posts. Anyway, having said that don't go expecting too much tonight.

OK, maybe it wasn't really boring. I mean, we did have cpc's 1st birthday, atec's 18th birthday (again?!?), and Father's Day all in one quick weekend. We're so proud of our little boy, but we don't need to brag about all the great advances he makes (ahead of schedule)... most of you have been around him and know how great he is. For those of you who aren't so close, we hope we get some good chances to see one another soon.

Cpc got lots of fun presents (there were some really good deals out there to stretch our budget!) including a soccer ball which he LOVES to kick and a little fuzzy green ball which is just fun to hold, but his favorite present is easily the one we made for him... we don't know what to call it, but we'll take suggestions! Atec says it's like a lawnmower- which I agree with, but this is strictly an indoor toy... it is very rewarding to see him always pulling it along behind him after I spent about 8 hours on it. It wasn't cost-effective, but we didn't do it to save money... hopefully our kids will love it for many years to come and will enjoy the fact that Dad made it.

Atec's birthday and Father's Day were a little rougher. The problem with them being on the same day is that we were both too concerned with spoiling one another to really enjoy the spoils ourselves. Glad it won't be that way next year... in fact, the 21st won't be Father's Day again until 2015. But in 2014 Father's Day will also be cpc's 7th birthday. Maybe we should have planned that a little better?

Ok, atec here. So here's the pictures:

My little sister Ace graduated high school.

Pmc made the most amazing pancakes ever.

Cpc still prefers lazy-boys to real high-chairs.

Cpc discovered melons, of every kind.

Cpc discovered s'mores.

We finally got out of the rain and went up the canyon, in the mud.

I made cpc a ghetto-bee for his birthday cake.

Cpc enjoyed discovering different colors while playing with his new crayons.

Cpc learned to drag his "lawnmower" around the house wherever he goes.

We have two movies this time around:

Cpc kicking in the pool.

And the first birthday cake.

As far as thoughts from me, well...I am just so glad that we've been able to spend our first 2 1/2 years of marriage here so close to family. We sure have needed their help and support, especially with all the free babysitting. I have no idea what we'll do when we don't have that! I am also very grateful that I learned to play the violin growing up, and that I can teach as a job. I am so glad I can stay home with cpc, even though pmc has been in school, and will continue that for a bit longer. I am really enjoying seeing the little skills cpc masters each day. I absolutely love seeing the way he want so much to just play with me and pmc. He sure has a big heart for such a little kid. I also love seeing pmc and I grow spiritually together as we raise a child. We are so grateful to have the gospel of Jesus Christ to help us as we learn this whole parenting thing.

The Little Things

We never got to blogging on Sunday because we had a fantastic early Father's Day at Grams & Papa's since they will be on tour next week. Plus, I caught a bad head-cold from my little sister that started Saturday. I'm mostly recovered, just the lingering voice loss and ear-popping issues. But now Pmc and Cpc are coming down with it, so I'm not yet catching up. But I absolutely had to share a few of "the little things" before I forget how special they are. These are the motherhood moments I live for.

Yesterday I was sitting in a class at the annual Intermountain Suzuki String Institute observing one of my students, and playing with cpc in my lap. We have a mini magna-doodle toy that I keep in the diaper bag, which he was playing with. I realized that he was actually trying to put the end of the pen on the board, like we would always show him. So I switched it around in his hand, so the magnetic tip was the right way, and TA-DA! He has figured out how to draw. He already thoroughly enjoys his new skill, and today tried drawing with a real pen and paper. I really enjoyed watching his face light up as he realized HE was causing those lines on the paper!

Then today, I was letting him enjoy a little Signing Time while I was searching the internet for birthday presents for him. He usually watches for about 25 minutes, but today he was apparently done after 20 minutes. We have one of those desks with the drawer for the keyboard that folds down. Well, cpc came over folded the drawer up and tried to push it in while I was typing, and then looked at me with a sweet face that definitely said "Mom, I'm ready to play with you again, you're done now." I could not resist, and not that I should have. I am so glad to be able to see how much my adorable son loves me.

More to come soon!

I'm an Expert!

So there's this part in my patriarchal blessing that talks about my vocation in life. I've never really felt like I understood it, and I always go back and forth about what I think it means. Well today, all that changed. I read a post on my cousin's blog, and had my very own epiphany. My vocation is being a wife and mother. I always knew this, but never realized this is what my blessing was referring to specifically.

I am so grateful to be a wife and mother. I am so grateful that I can be a homemaker, all day long. I teach violin lessons, and this is a great source of income for us, which we really need right now. But it's not my vocation. In fact, I learn about mothering from teaching lessons. I got my degree in Liberal Arts & Sciences because I had so many classes I wanted to take in a thousand different "areas." People called it the cop-out major, the one where you didn't have to become good at any one thing. Well, I have become good at one thing, being a homemaker, wife and mother. In fact, I am an expert at it.

No, that doesn't mean that I have it down, and know all the tricks, or that I won't always be learning. I'm an expert at teaching little kids violin, but I don't know everything there is to know. That doesn't mean I can't call myself an expert. Sometimes my husband tells me he wishes I could recognize more often all the things I do right at home. Well, here I am, doing exactly that. I do a lot right. I'm really good at keeping our home clean, and making it a good environment most of the time, at making sure there is always love and acceptance in the atmosphere, at creating learning opportunities, and fun. I often forget that. But I really was blessed in getting my degree in LA&S, because it helped me to learn that. I am good at a lot of things, which really helps in the whole multi-tasking thing we women have to do. I have been able to learn a whole bunch of skills that I really need for being a homemaker. I use these skills ALL the time. I'm good at "being there" for my husband and son, and I think I'll be able to learn to do that for however many kids we end up having. I love my "vocation" and am so glad that I've been blessed to have it. I hope I can always remember this, and trust myself as the expert.

Housekeeping

No, I don't mean keeping my actual house. I mean things I need to take care of blog-wise.

We are trying really hard to feel secure about not going private with our blog. We really don't want to. We will if we have to. So, here's what we ask of you. Notice how we only use our initials? We never use our first names, we never give addresses or phone numbers on our blog? We have the little visitor map so we can see where people are that are looking at our blog. I know these aren't the most useful means of being secure, but they are the efforts we've chosen to make. So can you do us one big favor? We don't mind you linking to our blog, at all. Just don't use our first names. And when you comment, can you please try not to use our first names? You are welcome to use initials like we do. I'm sorry if it messes with your blog lists, looks funny among all the other names. But we'd really really really REALLY appreciate it.

We hope this doesn't offend anyone. We'd rather ask you to do this instead of going private and forgetting to invite someone and offend that way. Thank you very much!

Who Needs Sleep?

We had a fun week. We enjoyed having two friends and their spouses over on different nights for BBQ's. We REALLY love this barbecue thing, we wish we had been able to start it earlier. Summer takes on a whole new meaning!

We also had a rough sleep week. Part of this is due to not getting to bed on time, getting up too early (to go golfing and such), and last but not least some more sleep issues for cpc.

I took my violin in to get some repairs this week, thinking it would be at $50, but it turned out to only be $5. That made our week, because it meant that we could invest in the bike repairs that we wanted to. We had three bikes....pmc's bike from when he was 12, his mission bike, and mine. We were very grateful for our good friend Sm, our former landlord, who helped us figure out what was worth fixing and keeping, and what just wasn't. We got Pmc's mission bike all fixed up for him, and his kid-bike will last me the rest of the summer. However, my bike was only good for parts. That makes me kind of sad, but on the other hand, once we get out to NY, I think I will just get a nice cruiser! I am not sure if we mentioned this already, but we picked up a brand-new bike trailer at a yard sale for $40 last week too. So our family is rip-roarin-ready to go! We will pick up our bikes from a few repairs tomorrow. We're also excited to get onto the mountain trails with our new Kelty, if we can just get some rain clearance.

We also enjoyed a day at the cabin this weekend. We will really miss those when we move. We are so grateful for fantastic family, especially the wise grandparents who invested in the cabin! It makes spending time together as family, without distractions, very easy.

We love this beautiful valley, and will definitely miss it!