These Weeks

The past few weeks in pictures:

Spring is upon us. 

Noble planted a little peach seedling in the corner of our garden a few years ago and has nurtured it even though I told him I wasn't sure it would produce anything. This spring for the first time it blossomed. It is beautiful.

I see this little tree as a metaphor for Noble's life. We have been trying to teach him a lot of things in his life about what is true, how to live and find joy. I hope like his peach seedling he will give place for those teachings and nourish them...and see them miraculously blossom and produce good fruit.

 Thank goodness for the two little boys who live at our house! They bring so much joy, and excitement, and wonder (and sometimes exhaustion). We all love them so much! I am forever grateful that Heavenly Father had two more in store for us.

Asleep in the same bunk.

Lunch time with Abner and  his buddy (the Kemp's youngest) and big sister.

Climbing the hammock in the warm April sun. 

Showing off his work from preschool.

One of the things I will sorely miss when my kids are all grown - little kids' soccer games. Here is Abner with his team. (Notice the kid with the pirate hat.)  While our other kids have ramped up slowly when it comes to sports, Abner is already a force to be reckoned with on the field. He scored a hat trick (3 goals) in his first game.........after he'd finished crying for half the game on the sidelines about not wanting to play (first-game-ever nerves).

 It is the sweetest thing in the world to still have a couple of kids who want to snuggle up and sleep.

 Our animals are fat and happy.

Literally, Pluto is fat from her winter of leisure (mostly spent in the house and garage, eating). With the weather warming up she is on the prowl on the easement once again...keeping the rodent population at bay.

River has made a miraculous transformation (coinciding with the acquisition of his new shock / vibration training collar). He is now able to roam with relative freedom around the house and yard, and behaves himself around little children and new people. He has learned that life is MUCH better when he's not constantly on a leash or in a kennel.

Nature appreciation

We had a couple of moon rises this past month that were sublime. Here is one I tried to capture with my phone.

A Near-Miss

Last night Noble had a run-in with the neighbor's dog line (like a zip line for dogs to exercise). It was dark and  he was running full-tilt across their yard. Next thing he knew he was thrown to the ground by the throat. Today his throat is swollen and his tongue too where he nearly bit it off. Ouch.

 More Reno With Roy

A few boulders had to be moved to finish the back patio. We had to transport them to a new home in the yard. This was Roy and Mike's genius solution to moving them. It was pretty effective.

The Vampire Room is officially gone! Demo day in the basement.

More demo. Roy rented an industrial sized tile remover and the boys went to work chipping up all the tile in the basement kitchen. Roy says that he found the one thing the previous owners did that was built right: the tile floor. Unfortunately for us. It was a bugger to remove. And it made a TON of dust. I hate that part.

Mike spent about 6 hours yesterday grinding / buffing the residual mortar left from the tile. What a mess. But we are now down to the bare concrete floor. Our plan is to make a finished concrete floor in the kitchen / soon-to-be game room.

Meanwhile Upstairs...

While the grunts worked away in the mud and the dust downstairs, Jessie was upstairs getting ready for prom. Thanks to Holly, who helped us line her dress. It was lovely. 

Jessie didn't get out of work scott-free though. She started her day pulling weeds. Her date told us later that in between morning and evening sessions of prom (ha ha - one of the things I love to hate about high school dances is the all day activities they plan with it) he was home pulling weeds as well. Our respect went up for this kid...or at least for his parents. 

Prom 2016

This Week

I began last Tuesday anxiously waiting for the A/C repairman to come. We had spent the previous 3 days a little warm. But my YW lesson on Sunday was all about being grateful in any circumstance - so I was determined to practice gratitude - even if I felt cranky. The guy was about an hour and a half late (another chance for me to practice gratitude) - and then (finally), just as he was about to arrive, I got a phone call from the school. Grace was on the line and informed me that Sully had fallen from the monkey bars at recess, hurt his wrist, and the teacher thought he should see a doctor.

Super bad timing.

I was stuck. Couldn't leave with the A/C guy just getting there. But what kind of a mother tells the office people to just hang tight with her injured son until she gets around to picking him up?

Priorities.

I told them I couldn't get there right away and that I would see what I could arrange. I called my sister Holly and asked if she could go check him out and at least bring him home so I could comfort him until we could get him to the doctor. She was awesome and came to the rescue.
Turns out, we were the one-in-a-million household annually to have their A/C compressor brought to a screeching halt by a hapless earwig taking refuge between connector points on the circuit. Not kidding. The repairman showed me the charred remains of our little earwig friend in the control panel. I was gobsmacked. Could anything more random have caused this? Brought to our knees by an earwig. With odds like that, I figured we should have won a prize or something. As it was, we had to pay him. He was nice and only charged us the $79 service evaluation charge. And I tell you I was thrilled to pay it. Only ten minutes and $79 (plus tax) to once again feel cold air flowing from the vents?  SOLD!

It was also fortunate that the A/C was so easily fixed so that I could get Sully to the doctor sooner. Although...from the moment he walked in the house with Holly he was downplaying the whole thing, saying in a matter-of-fact tone that he felt much better, that it didn't even hurt. Still, when I asked him to squeeze his hand into a fist for me he couldn't do it, so I decided we were definitely going to have it x-Ray'd.

Sully was the SWEETEST.  He talked and talked to the doctor and nurses, and x-Ray techs. He was so animated, telling them that it didn't hurt (until the doctor touched the one spot that did hurt, "Every place on me feels good, except RIGHT HERE", pointing to a spot on his wrist). After taking a look at the x-Ray the doctor walked in and announced, "It's broken", and then explained that they would splint it then and put a hard cast on after a few days. At the word "cast" Sully started to tear up. Sully had high hopes that he was just fine, and now the doctor said he was going to have to wear a cast for a month. (Later on he explained that he was crying because it meant he couldn't play on the playground for a month.) Waiting for them to come back to fit the splint, he paced back and forth repeating to himself over and over, "Having a broken arm isn't the worst thing. There are lots of things that are worse" - with tears just under the surface. I wish I had taken a video of it. It was so sweet to watch him pep-talking himself.

By contrast, when I took him to get his hard cast on yesterday he was beaming with pure JOY. With a few days of one-armed experience under his belt he was full of confidence in his ability to adapt (and to still have fun at recess). He was stoked to get the new cast (and to wash his hand again). Sully is like sunshine.

We treated ourselves to a mother/son lunch at Chick-fil-a afterward. Look at that happy face!

Later that day with a few signatures. I got first dibs...

On Friday Mike packed up the youngest three and headed to St. George to be there early enough to get a good night's sleep (sort of) before the marathon. I stayed behind with the older three until after Noble's race. 

This race was in Park City, and the coolest course they've done all year in my opinion. They ran all over the hills. Noble was taken out early on when a kid slipped on a rain-soaked hill and knocked down a bunch of runners. This loosened one of Noble's shoe laces, which later caused him to loose his shoe, forcing him to back track to get it and then he had to put it back on. He still finished with a decent time (17:26) - but finished last for Bingham in the varsity race - and was sure he'd lost his place on varsity. He was pretty upset after he crossed the finish line. The coach reassured him that he still held his place - and would run varsity at Region on the 13th. Adversity is good for the soul. It made Noble want to try harder. He told me he will be duct-taping his laces before his next race. He is learning a lot.

A pre-race prayer

As soon as we had finished talking to the coach we got in the car and headed south to St. George. It was a late night, past midnight, when we got in. But traveling with teenagers is a lot easier than traveling with little kids - we drove straight through, no stops.

Mike was up at 4:00 the next morning - and his dad drove him to catch the race bus for the marathon. He was trying to meet up with a guy from the neighborhood so they could run together, but they never found each other in that sea of people (they actually ended up running almost the exact same time - even though our neighbor finished about 5 minutes after Mike. If that doesn't make sense - let me know and I'll explain). He did, however, run into Sister Brewer (who's son is the "other freshman varsity kid" from my previous post) who walked right up to him and smiled and encouraged him (this was probably her 10th St. George marathon). It was a tender mercy for him and helped ease his nerves. (Thank you Diana!)

His goal was to match or beat his dad's time from 1984 (3:40). His splits until about mile 23 were more than fast enough, but he slowed up his last few miles. He ended up finishing 6 minutes slower than Howard (the speed demon) - still not too shabby for a first marathon at 40. Howard reminded Mike that he had been five years younger and two-kids less (they add mileage) when he ran it in '84. :)

The Melton men...

What an awesome experience! I am so impressed that Mike set himself a difficult challenge and went and did it -- without anyone else pushing him or even anyone training with him. He is amazing! He's also in phenomenal shape now. He told me he stopped by the health fair at work today and they told him his BMI was "desirable." Ha ha ha ha. Go Mike!

From an Overheated House in SOJO

...Our A/C decided to go on vacation for the weekend. Currently we're sitting pretty at 84 degrees Fahrenheit.

Hey everyone...I apologize for the "conversational hiatus" (reference: "Oh Brother Where Art Thou?"). It has been a very busy couple of months. A quick synopsis:

* The Melton family was all together in August for a camp out at Black Hawk.

*The start of school - Noble, Grace, Tillman and Sully at the Montessori School, Jessie at Bingham High School and Abner at Big Kids on the Block Preschool

Sully - 2nd grade, Tillman - 6th grade, Grace - 8th grade, Noble - 9th, Jessie - 11th (didn't get a picture of her first day because she spent that morning getting ready at a friend's house)

* Roger's Family Reunion & my Grandma Gertie's 90th Birthday - My siblings and I helped our Aunt and Uncle put together the festivities

Grandma on the kids' bounce house at her party. She's 90. :)

Rogers jam from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

* Noble has been having a killer season with the Bingham Cross Country team. Apparently he is only the 2nd freshman boy in Bingham history to make varsity. (The first was a kid - now on a mission in Canada - who's family lives across the street. There might be something in the water here. Incidentally, that kid has a full-ride scholarship to run at BYU when he gets home...we've mentioned that once or twice to Noble. $$$)

* Jessie finished the 4h season with a great performance at Team...

...also, she turned 17 and went to her second Homecoming dance

* Grace crafted this llama for a school assignment with Grandma

* Our tomato patch is too much for us to handle this year... we've given away a lot of tomatoes.

* Somehow between working two jobs, a calling, starting a business and being dad to 6 dudes, Mike has found time to train for the St. George Marathon. Here he is after running 20 miles before 8 AM and before going to work for the day. He is amazing.

...and just because he's so cute...here's another one of Mike - lounging after church.

*  Tillman and Sully have been playing soccer - and doing well. This year Sully is a total pacifist on the soccer pitch. It makes us all laugh. He is constantly telling me that the most important thing is NOT winning, and that we should cheer for everyone, not just the winners... or his team. A few games back he pulled a Scott Sterling, and caught a soccer ball to the face twice in one game. On the way home we were laughing about that, and I said, "Well, it's great that you won anyway...." to which he responded, "We WON?!!?"  ha ha ha ...We credit his peaceful nature to Hypnobirthing and the daily yoga practice at school. Oh Sully.

Living in the Moment

I wish we could keep these two just like this forever. Every day is a magical adventure with the Super A and Super S. ("Together, we save the galaxy! Super Kids!!!")

One thing on my list of things to accomplish over the Christmas break was to take the older kids over to the Family Search Library in Riverton for some extra help with descendancy research. Here are the fruits of our hour of research.

Tillman left with a burning desire to do more Family History research, so Mike helped him set up his own account and he has been digging in. He went with Grandma Ilean one afternoon for another visit - where he connected a missing child to his family, and printed out the card for temple work. I am telling you, the youth of this church are hastening the work in ways I never imagined.

This year a funny thing happened to me as I packed away the Christmas decorations. I cried. Usually by the time January rolls around, I am ready to pack things up, get back to our routine. But this year as I went to unplug the Christmas village I found myself taking another long look at it. As I took decorations off the tree (especially the ones the kids have made or brought home over the years) I could not hold back the tears. I found myself sadly humming "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas".  I know that sounds like the sappiest thing you've ever heard. It all seemed kind of silly to me too, and I wondered why I was feeling this way. I concluded that it must be because I hated to see this Christmas end after the special experiences of love and service we've had this year. I also have to admit that some of my sadness came from knowing that we only have a few more Christmases with all our kids living at home. This makes my heart ache.

Tillman officially graduated from the Cub Scout program. He earned his Webelos badge and Arrow of Light last month and this month got to sign the ceremonial bridge, and become an 11 year old scout.

Mike and Tillman in their Alabama crimson -- supporting the ancestral alma mater. Unfortunately, the Tide was knocked out of the tournament. They are rooting for the Ducks in the championship now. 

You may have heard that a fence is going up for River. Jupiter the Space Donkey got by with an invisible fence, but we needed something more concrete for the next generation. So, getting a family dog just got a LOT more expensive. *sigh*

In reality, a backyard fence is something we probably needed to do anyway...safety, privacy, liability. And since we believe in making people really EARN their money, we waited till January to get them started. (I kind of felt bad about those guys digging post holes all day in the cold.)

Sully watches the BBC Walking with Dinosaurs documentaries at least three times a week. So, for Christmas Sully and Abner got tickets to the Walking with Dinosaurs arena show.
It was really amazing. Also amazing was the fact that Sully would rattle off the names of each of the dinosaurs as they came out before the host ever got a chance to say anything. Sully: "Oh! There's Ornithocheirus!"  And then the host would say, "this is Ornithocheirus..." We thought it was pretty funny. :)

Let's just say that the boys had a fantastic night, especially Sully.
Here's a little taste of the action.

Walking with Dinosuars from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Emergency Averted

Today, at church Mike was summoned out of Sunday School by Sully's Primary teachers.

 I was in a meeting when all this went down and couldn't answer my phone. But this was the blow by blow (pun not intended) from Mike in text:

Awesome.

A Night Out with a Couple of 1st Graders

The Mormon Tabernacle Choir Christmas Concert is notoriously hard to get tickets for. They offer tickets for only 3 performances, plus an abbreviated Sunday morning sampling. When I heard who the guest performers were going to be this year I so wanted to get tickets. Usually children under 8 are not admitted to these performances, but, under the circumstances, they opened this year's concert to  children as young as 5. I thought Sully would love it. I put the word out among family members to put their names in the lottery to see if any of us could score these coveted tickets. Out of 7 or 8 lottery entries just one, my mom, came away with tickets, which she handed over to us. THANKS MOM!

We invited Sully's cousin Tom to join us for the evening.  Traffic was a mess and it took us longer to get downtown than we hoped. Parking was 4 blocks away from the Conference Center, and we were going to have to scramble to make sure they didn't give away our seats to standby. I held Tom's hand as we all made like super heroes and ran the 4 blocks. I had been getting over a cold, and by about block 2 my lungs were burning. I told Mike that we would have to slow up, but they all wanted to keep running. Tom was disgusted with his running partner, and asked Mike if he could hold his hand instead. (ha ha ha ha)

By the time we lined up to enter the Conference Center I could not stop coughing, and I kept on coughing all night off and on. 

The concert was so much fun. My favorite part? When organist Richard Elliot did "The Twelve Days of Christmas" with the Count. Mike says he almost cried when the choir did the Polish carol "Infant Holy, Infant Lowly". My emotional moment came when Santino Fontana and the Muppets sang "Sing a Song" -- don't know if that means I'm less sophisticated, but that song holds a lot of childhood memories for me. 

Thanks everyone who threw their names in the hat for us to try to help us get tickets. 

It was a magical evening!

The Season of Birthdays and Projects

We celebrate 5 birthdays between the end of May and the end of July - a 2 month barrage of birthday excitement. 

Grace celebrated a big milestone this year. 12 big ones.

She scored a new bike. A Schwinn cruiser...just her style. She didn't mind riding the refurbished 1980's era dirt bikes handed down to us from Mike's parents for the last several years, but we thought it was time that she have her own ride.

On June 29, Sully turned 6. He had been anticipating the occasion for months, telling us again and again that he was going to be 6...and then 7...and then 8...and then almost 16!! I told him to take it easy and enjoy 6.

We invited family over to share his "Super S" cake (specifically requested by Sully).

IMG 0319 from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

Abner's 3rd birthday

When Abner saw that Sully had breakfast  in bed the week before on his birthday he wanted in on that action. He was SO excited when his birthday morning rolled around 7 days later.  Happy birthday breakfast Abner! (Notice also the birthday shiner on his left eye. When Mike asked him what happened to his eye he answered: "My eye got on the garage stair." Translation: he tripped on the stairs and went down face first.)

I decided to make a dirt cake for the occasion of Abner's birthday. With all my kids growing up, there's limited opportunity for stuff like this anymore at our house. He loved it!

I love this picture! These guys are my favorite in the whole world! Plus, Abner's smile is priceless.

Noble is turning 14 later this month. He already received his birthday present, a semi-automatic Airsoft gun, so he could take it on the Scout High Adventure river trip that he and Mike left for today. They are headed for eastern Idaho and Jackson Hole until Thursday. Sounds like great times.

Mike also has a birthday this month. 39 this year. He says he wants a power saw. This is why...

 Mike has been working on more shelving in the garage. He and Noble have had several late nights of building after Mike gets home from work. Noble is awesome at helping with stuff like this. He can work hard and is naturally inclined toward all things engineering. At one point Mike gave himself a puncture wound with the drill, and Noble just went straight back to work while I was bandaging Mike up.

Last day of this phase of the garage shelving project, Noble's posse had come to help. Great kids. Here they are with the finished unit.