The New and Exciting (and not so exciting)

Lots going on as usual. Here are the highlights.

Grace's art teacher hosted a yearly art exhibit at her home featuring her students' work. Here's Grace with her favorite piece, "Hot Dog".

I grabbed a shot of Grace and Emory in front of one of Emory's paintings (the tree) and a few landscapes and a still life by Grandma Ilean. Grandma has been the girls' patron of the arts for the last year or so, helping to provide art lessons. They both LOVE it! Thanks, Mom. (By the way, Grace worked on this outfit days in advance. She wanted to look legit for the show. Always apropos. ) 

:)

And now for a little update on every one's basketball seasons. Grace and Tillman finished up strong this past weekend, each buttoning up a win to end the season. Jessie's Lady Miners have been improving steadily, garnering a few more wins. They are down to the last several games of the season, and looking to win most if not all of those.

A blurry picture of Grace putting up her fist points in a game. Woohoo! (She's so little!) That girl trying to block her has a pretty good vertical, doesn't she?

The boys playing pirate ship last week. Sully looks pretty surly here.

Mike and I heard that Toad the Wet Sprocket was coming to town - touring with their first album in like 16 years. Mike bought tickets before we even heard the whole album.
Let me just say, it was a WONDERFUL show. As I get older there is growing aspect of character appreciation in my music appreciation . I gravitate more and more to bands and artists that are not only talented and entertaining but also admirable people. I love these guys.

Listen here to "New Constellation" from the new album.


...and one of my new favorites since Glen Phillips gave it some commentary at the show... "Rare Bird"



Sully's Kindergarten put on a first class production several weeks ago highlighting all the things they have been learning about geography and cultures. Here's Sully (looking cool like Ricky Schroder with his polo collar up like that) with his teacher after the big show.

And a little snap shot from today. Soggy but beaming. Life is so good.

An Evening in the Splash Lab

Entering the Splash Lab...or "Stlash Lab"

 Last week we met up with some of our old  friends from BHS days. Our friend Tadd is the creator of the Splash Lab at BYU, and after getting together for the first time in years last spring, we all decided we would meet there next.

True to his personality, Tadd has fashioned the perfect career for himself in the Department of Engineering at BYU. He and a group of his grad students come up with cool stuff to photograph at extreme high speed (one of his cameras alone cost about as mush as a house...and takes like 1 million frames PER SECOND), and then study the dynamics. While the things they discover are undoubtedly useful in the real world (like how to engineer better toilets for reducing splash back :), or better designs for the Department of Defense), I am convinced that people (including all of their corporate sponsors) really just love Tadd. Everyone does. He's just one of those people. He's made a bit of a name for himself and his lab with his videos featured on NPR - Science Friday, BBC, CNN, NBC, local new outlets...and who knows what-all. Like I said, he's just one of those people that other people want to be around, because there's always sure to be something fun going on. Julie, his wife/my second cousin, says she just wishes he got paid according to his popularity. ha ha  ha ha. Don't we all, Julie... ha ha ha...

We took Noble, because we had a suspicion that Noble would find a kindred spirit in Tadd. I think we were correct in our hunch.

Old friends, Jenn and Ang.  Capturing the magic.

After one of our first experiments, watching the instant replay. Look at the joy on Noble's face!

Mike telling a story to the crowd while Tadd sets up for the shot.

Dry ice in water

Tadd had messaged everyone ahead of time about bringing in things they wanted to see filmed at high speed. I couldn't think of anything, but luckily my friend Jenn came through for us, bringing in a bag of fire crackers and a GI Joe guy. Tadd also had Julie bring in some dry ice. After that it was just up to our imaginations to determine what crazy stunts we would try.

Josh on bubble blowing duty with the dry ice, Tadd describing the change in light refraction to us.

We filmed bubbles popping, and Tadd explained the strange way that light refracts and then is absorbed right before it pops. We filmed dry ice in water, a fire cracker exploding, then we filmed a fire cracker exploding in water (thanks to Jenn's husband, Josh for engineering that tricky feat). The pinnacle moment of the evening came when we pulled out all the stops, strapped a couple of fire crackers to the GI Joe, lit the fuse and then dropped him in water. We thought for a moment that the fuse had been extinguished in the water, but then "BOOM!" The entire beaker of water exploded, reminiscent of the crazy story Tadd had just finished telling us about the time he had accidentally blown up a 100 gallon tank of water on the upper floors of a building at MIT where he had been doing research, and flooded the floors below. Glad I wasn't there for that one. ha ha ha.
After the dust settled in the Splash Lab, Tadd's first response was to turn to Noble who was holding the camera trigger and yell, "Did you get it?!" And as soon as Noble replied that he had, Tadd let out a triumphant, "YES!"

Duck and cover, waiting for the fire cracker to blow.

GI Joe survived without a scratch (Clark's kids got to take him home as a souvenir), and the footage was incredible! We watched it again and again, and then couldn't stop laughing and talking about how awesome it all was as we wiped up the water and shards of glass. (Sorry again Tadd about the beaker...)

Clark, Noble and Mike poised for the explosion.

The video file was way too big to put on a jump drive to bring home, so Tadd said he'd put it up on the website. I'll share that when it's up. In the meantime... this will give you an idea of how much fun we had.

We capped off our fun in the lab by using physics to break glass bottles with the palm of our hands (Or a rubber mallet if you weren't tough enough...which was everyone except Tadd who has had a lot of practice. You should have seen the look of disgust he gave me after I gave my bottle a dainty tap. ha ha ha ha. I was afraid it would hurt.). Tadd explained how cavitation works to break the bottle.

Here we are posing after the fun. As I pulled this photo up in my email (from Josh's phone)  I noticed that it shows some of the ceiling tiles Tadd told us that he managed to pull out before, in his words, "I was caught" in an impulsive effort to redecorate the Splash Lab. Yet ANOTHER hilarious story.

After all the science fun, we drove over to Mountain West Burrito for dinner. Julie had to leave to get home to a sick child, and we wish that Clark's wife, Juli (another high school friend) could have been there, along with several others. But we had an unforgettable time. At dinner we laughed till we cried. I miss that. I love these guys. 

On the way home Noble was delighted to hear that he is related distantly, by marriage (Juli = my second cousin on my mom's side) to Tadd, his new hero. 

Out of the quiet in the back seat he said, "Can we do that again.....ALL THE TIME?" 

Mike and I smiled to ourselves. That was cool.

In the Morning

Sully LOVES Life Cereal. He is just like Mikey from the old commercials.   We can't stock enough of it.

Greeting the day with a little yoga.

Namaste.

Southbound

Just as the most recent winter inversion was setting in we packed up and headed south for the 4 day MLK weekend. We have been anxious to meet our new nephew and see Mike's parents - so when the opportunity presented itself, we went.

We had to leave Jessie behind. She had school on Friday and basketball practice that she couldn't miss. It seems like this having to leave a child or two behind for family trips is happening more often as the kids get older. It is one of my least favorite things about having teenagers. We missed her.

Friday we got Jess off to school for late start day...which meant it was also a late start for us getting on the road. We had an uneventful trip and pulled up to the Melton's house in Washington about 4:30. 

It felt like a long time since we had seen them...a lot had happened since Christmas.

Saturday morning we took a beautiful little hike up into the reserve north of the house. The sun was warm, the air clean, and the views spectacular!

Looking north into the reserve. A lot to explore. We'll be back!

Zion on the horizon. So beautiful!

Sully schmoozed himself a ride for the last mile on grandpa's shoulders.

 Grandpa treated everyone to slushies at the nearby Marverik on our trek back home, and we sat out on the patio in the sun to finish them.

This is the life!

After our morning jaunt, we had lunch and put Abner down for a nap. Howard took the older boys to swim at the rec center pool, while Jacque and Grace stayed home with Ab. Mike and I drove south to Las Vegas to visit his brothers and sister-in-law and meet our new nephew.

We met Gary and Val at the hospital in Southern Highlands, where Mike and I were taken one at a time back into the NICU to see baby Pax. The little guy is up over 5 lbs. now and getting stronger every day. Hopefully soon he'll be able to go home. Here he is at 3 weeks old. 

He is one special...and beloved boy. I was so proud of Gary and Val. It is a beautiful thing to watch them as parents. I was brought to tears once or twice. I could have stayed and stared at Pax all night. (If you ask Mike, I practically did, staying in the NICU a really long time. I couldn't help it.)

We love him.

We had dinner later with Gary and Val and Tim, when he got off of work. I wish I had taken a picture of everyone together. We really miss seeing them, and being more involved in each others' lives. I am so grateful for all our siblings.

We left Las Vegas about 10 PM, and made the drive back to St. George that night, getting in about 1 AM Utah time. I slept content that night, having spent some quality time, making memories with family that day.

Sunday was a very relaxing day. After church we ate, the kids went with Mike and Howard to visit one of Howard's cousins up the road, and I got a nap. Woohoo!

Cleaning up Sunday dinner with Grandma

Monday morning we had a leisurely breakfast and packed up. 

Mike and Howard played a game of football with the older kids in the park down the hill.

Meanwhile, back at the ranch...

Sully and Ab were hooked up with a movie inside their box/fort/spaceship.

...And cut playdo with Grandma.

We finally packed up the car, and then had lunch with Mom and Dad at Costa Vida before striking out for the great white north. 

We stopped at a gas station in Cedar City where the kids all purchased a Sobe for the road. 

Not sure that was the best idea. What happened afterward  will forever be known in family legend as

the "So-pee" incident. 

It was one potty emergency after another all the way home. We stopped several more times, including a gas station and the freeway off ramp at Holden. There were also a few episodes of "refilling" an empty Sobe bottle in the back seat, (I still laugh when I think about Grace asking pathetically, "Please can I come sit on the middle row?" so she didn't have to sit right next to her brother for that.)... as well as having to change a set of wet clothes. Sully somehow also managed to wet his stuffed sock monkey...which reminded us of the time when Tillman had an accident on a family road trip to Yosemite, after which he announced confidently to everyone, "Don't worry, I wiped it up with my pillow!"  ha ha ha.

Oh my goodness. Good times.

Thanks to all our south-western relatives for the great weekend! See you soon!

It's a New Year

We are safely past mid-winter, and though there is technically more daylight every day, it can certainly seem like the dreariest part of the year. But we're keeping things interesting.

During the Christmas / New Year's break:

* I finally painted the basement kitchen area.

Still getting used to the color. I don't know, but I think once we get the white kitchen cabinets that I want up, it should look pretty good. (crossing my fingers)

 * We went down to the BYU MOA to see the exhibit, "Sacred Gifts" - paintings from the life of the Savior by Carl Bloch and several other artists. We met my brother Casey and his family.

It was a beautiful exhibit! I liked it as much or more than the Carl Bloch exhibit we attended a few years ago down there. There was one particular painting by Frans Schwartz that I had never seen before right at the entrance of the exhibit, and which is now one of my favorites. It is on loan from a church in Denmark.

It is very impressive.

"Agony in the Garden" - Frans Schwartz - 1898

* We hosted Jessie's basketball team at the house for a party. The older kids went to their friends houses for a late night, and the BHS lady Sophomore basketball team took over the basement. Good times.

* New Year's was, as usual, a long night for Mike and I. I have never been a big fan of staying up just to watch the clock tick into a new calendar year.  #1. I value my sleep. #2. I don't particularly love going out partying, especially late into the night... waiting for the clock to strike 12. (See #1.)  For these reasons New Year's usually passes without much fan fair around here. It was actually a bit of a relief when our kids were old enough to want to have their own get-together's with friends on New Years...it took the pressure off of me to have big plans. I had to be at home to keep tabs on the kids. So this year the little brothers went to bed, J. went to the big multi-stake dance with friends, Noble and his gang roved back and forth between houses...mostly ours...playing ping pong, Xbox, foraging goodies, etc., Grace went to the neighbor's,and Tillman hung out with Mike and I. We watched a Nova documentary on Amazon Prime, and dozed off to sleep on the couch about 10 PM. We woke up later to make sure everyone was home, and to send stragglers to their own homes...and, of course, listen to Jessie's enthusiastic retelling of her highlights from the dance.  :)    Happy New Year!

* We had a death in the family. Poor Grace. Her little hamster, Mars, passed away a few days after the new year. We don't know why. Grace was devastated and asked questions about animals going to heaven, and resurrection, etc. We reassured her that animals would not be forgotten.

We also tried to comfort her by explaining that her hamster was "guaranteed"... so we could go pick out a new one at the pet store. That helped a little, but she was really concerned about remembering Mars, and wanted to bury him in the yard. This led to an awkward explanation about how the pet store would require us to bring the body back (good thing I kept the box they sent him home in) in order to get a new hamster. 

So we boxed up little Mars and drove to the pet store. 

Grace absorbed in her sorrow.

Once she had been reassured by the pet store staff that his body would be respectfully disposed of, she started the happier work of picking out a new hamster. Her face lit up when she considered the candidates. She chose a big, gentle, red-haired guy and named him St. Patrick. We signed the papers and brought him home.

Picking out Patrick

He has his own wing of the laundry room, where he is secluded from some of the noise of the house and the cat...and where it's always nice and cozy warm. (The pet store guy speculated that Mars may have become over-stressed with lots of action and noise all around him...which was certainly the case at our house over the holiday.) So far so good. Grace loves him so much. 

As a side note, when we got him home, Mike teasingly asked Grace which hamster she loved more, Mars or Patrick. She gave him a disgusted look and said, "That's like asking which of your children you love more!" Mike, with his quick wit, jumped on that, "Go ahead, ask me which child I love the most." 

Grace: "Who do you love the most?"
Mike: "Tillman." 

Tillman, who was sitting there at the counter, minding his own business, eating a bowl of cereal, totally removed from the conversation, almost choked on his food, and Grace and I doubled over, as we all burst into histerical laughter. ha ha ha ha

Touche' Mike! 

As usual, perfect comedic timing. 

(In case you are worried that our kids' psyches have been damaged, Mike afterward assured Grace and Tillman that he has no favorites.) 

* We had a birth in the family! Mike's younger brother and his wife welcomed their first child. He came a few months early and will have to stay at the hospital for a while to get stronger. But he looks like he is doing better every day. I know it has been a scary beginning for Gary and Val. We wish we could be closer and do more. We love them. And we LOVE, LOVE baby Paxon. Can't wait to meet him in person.

Grandma Jacque and her newest grandbaby. This just makes me smile.

* Speaking of birthdays...Tillman marked a decade here on earth. Wow. Can you believe that?

It was a really busy day (school, piano lessons, pack meeting), but we broke away so we could come home and celebrate. Happy birthday Tillman! I am forever grateful that you came to us when you did. I love you!

With his standard cherry pie instead of cake.

That about covers things for our household for the past few weeks. 

I hope it's been a good start to the new year for all of you!

Catching Up: The Final Installment - Christmas

We have been talking about taking the kids to Temple Square to see the lights this year, but trying to find an open evening in this family's schedule is not easy. We finally decided that Monday night - the 23rd - would be the night. What added to my desire to go was that Sully saw a story in the Children's Friend some time ago that talked about the Christus statue at the visitor's center at Temple Square. He told me he wanted to go there and see it. He has been persistently asking when we were going to see the statue of Jesus. Every time he asked, I felt a growing urgency to make sure he could have that experience.  So on Dec. 23rd we drove down town and braved the crowd. I have NEVER seen it that crowded. As we came into the visitor's center  my heart sank a little as I realized how long the line was to see the Christus. It wrapped around the main floor of the visitor's center, with people shoulder to shoulder 5 or 6 across. I looked at Mike and then got down on my knees to break the news to Sully that the line was just too long for us to wait. I told him, and then asked if it would be ok if we just looked at it from outside through the big glass windows. He didn't hesitate, but with the faith of a child, simply said, 

"No, I want to see Jesus. There will be room for us."  

What could I say to that? I looked at Mike and then at the other kids and shrugged my shoulders. The expression on Jessie's face said, "Are you serious?"  But there was no way I could tell Sully no. So we followed the line to the end, and took our place, all the while I was saying a silent prayer that this would work out for Sully, that his sincere desire to be closer to Christ would be granted. I had a lump in my throat as I thought of his words, "I want to see Jesus. There will be room for us." We waited and waited as the sister missionaries took up one group after another. Noble took Abner a few times to look at the exhibits on the lower floor and Jessie and Noble took the younger kids to the bathroom while we held the place in line. The kids stayed remarkably patient. I was proud of them. After what seemed like hours, we made our way to the top floor to see the Christus. Sully's face was full of awe as he saw the Christus come into view. We found a prime spot right in the center of the front row of seats, to listen to the short presentation. Sully looked for a moment at the statue and then announced confidently to me, "Look! I see the holes in his hands. He's showing them to us." I just sat there amazed at his perception.

I can't help thinking about the significance of those words, "room for us" especially at Christmas time. We don't always make room for Christ in our lives, but he always makes room for us. My 5 year old son had pointed this out to me in a profound way. And just as he predicted, there was room for us.

Sully and Ab in  front of the carpenter Christmas tree in the visitors center.

Sully gets his wish.

After seeing the Christus and the lights, we headed over to City Creek Center for a pizza, and let the kids run wild at the big dinosaur play area.
We had a wonderful time.

And now, a brief digression, just for the heck of it...  a random moment of awesomeness from last week...

DSCN6097 from Angie Melton on Vimeo.

ha ha ha ha! Thanks, Noble for capturing that priceless footage.

And on to Christmas...
Christmas eve we had lunch with the Melton's and then met at Sullivan's for the annual Nativity. It was beautiful. I even had pictures. But I can't find that memory card at the moment. Sorry. Maybe I will update later if I can track it down.

Later, when we got home, we read the story of the first Christmas in America from the Book of Mormon with the kids. I like adding that to our yearly observance.

Just before bedtime, the Melton's stopped by so the kids could "open" their gift to them, a ping pong table, in the basement. It's pretty awesome. If you want in on the action, let me know. I'll put you in the brackets.
After a few rounds of table tennis, the 5 oldest bunked out together in the basement family room as is their tradition, to wait for Christmas morning.

As a gift to us, the kids slept in a half an hour more this year, giving us till 7:30 Christmas morning. I thought that was pretty nice of them.

Sibling gifts - first thing Christmas morning.

Santa came through with that Tummy Stuffer dog that Sully had been fixated on for months.

Super fans.

Grace lucked out and scored a hamster from Santa...making this a 3 pet household again. (Sorry no picture.)

She named it Mars. Our kids LOVE the planet names.

Sleepy-excited

You wouldn't believe how hard it is to find a white Beastie Boys Check Your Head t-shirt in the USA. This was my Christmas triumph.

Mike also received the entire Gem State as a Christmas gift (actually, just a sound bar for the tv)

For the second year running, I received a John Stockton themed gift (last year it was a #12 jersey) --- this time his autobiography. I have been reading it every chance I get! Thanks Mike and kids!

Christmas dinner with the Melton's! (not pictured: the 3 youngest boys at the island counter)

We had a Christmas to remember.