My (spooky) nighttime confession

October 20, 2014 By

In preparation for a Halloween party last Friday, I trolled music videos on YouTube. I found many classics like Monster Mash and Ghostbusters but the king of them all is, of course, Michael Jackson’s Thriller. 

My kids gathered around my computer. My 10-year-old Hadley was so engrossed she watched it twice while 8-year-old Bode was nervous but I wasn’t worried. Though he’s never seen a horror movie, he has no problems with Lord of the Rings and that’s way scarier, right?

Wrong.

Here’s how our evening played out:

9:40 p.m. I passed out early from exhaustion.

10:30 p.m. Daughter wake-up call.

Her: “Mom, Bode is crying.”
Me: “Why are you awake?!” (She had just recovered from a two-week stint with enterovirus-turned-pneumonia.)
Her: “I’m not tired.”
Me: “GET TO BED, NOW.”

10:31 p.m. Trudge to Bode’s room. He’s still asleep but obviously freaked out and crying. Soothingly hug and pat his back, whispering “it’s only a dream.” He quiets down.

11:05 p.m. He starts crying again. Mother of the Year lovingly calms him. At least The Daughter is finally asleep.

Midnight-ish Crying con’t. Maybe if I pretend he’s not crying, he’ll stop. Negative.

12:15 a.m. Bring him into my bed. Snuggle him tight as he falls into a feverish, Thriller-induced slumber.

12:20-1:55 a.m. Every 10-15 minutes, he cries out then goes back to sleep.

2 a.m. More crying, more soothing. Resolve I’m too old for this. How do women in the 40s handle newborn all-nighters?

2:15 a.m. He starts kicking me in his sleep. Gently move him away.

2:25 a.m. Fat Kitty abandons us, citing “at least one of us needs to get some sleep.”

2:30 a.m. After yet another shout-out, I am DONE. I scoop him up in his arms and carry him to his bed. Close the door.

2:33 a.m.-6:20 a.m. I finally get some sleep.

7 a.m.  Bode wake-up.

“How are you feeling today? Do you remember your bad dreams?”
“No, not really. But how did I get into your bed last night?”

He was his usual chipper self while I looked like the walking dead the rest of the day.

Now, I finally get why “Thriller” is scary.

Filed Under: Bode, Humor

How to honor pioneers in the easiest way possible-Part II

October 15, 2014 By

Remember when I shared pioneer stories with my kids and tried to get them excited for the Mormon pioneer trek reenactment they will do when they are teenagers?

If you have no idea what I’m talking about, you must refresh your memory. Specifically the part when Bode proposes the easiest way possible to honor the pioneers…because his comments just keep getting better (read on).

I’ve pretty much confirmed that manual labor is not on his list of future occupations.

A couple of months after the pioneer trek in our stake, all the youth and their families met together for a “fireside” where they shared their feelings as they watched a video about their experience. The amateur videographer pulled together what must have been hours of footage and interviews–they really captured the spirit, hard work and beautiful theme of how to rescue one another as each of us struggles throughout our lives.

I wanted my kids to see them in action so we watched the video for Family Home Evening. Many of the youth shared how they had been particularly touched during the women’s pull, which is beautifully described in this article that I’d highly recommend reading in its entirety.

Later that day we had what many recognize to be called the “women’s pull.” The women’s pull is supposed to remind those trekking of the time in handcart history when the men of the handcart companies were called off to fight with the Mormon Battalion, and the women were left to pull the handcarts. If you can imagine tired and severely underfed women pulling handcarts up a very steep and rocky ridge, your heart might tug a little bit. Mine does, because that’s exactly what all the other women in our group and I did. It was hard and teary. All the fathers and brothers stood off to the side, some crying, and had to watch us as we struggled up the hill. Some women tripped, fell, lost hold of their handcarts, or had to stop….

The women’s pull is found on the video at about 9:39.

One of my favorite parts of the video was the story of pioneers Jens and Elsie Neilson (at the 18:38 mark).

We find one of the most touching stories of sacrifice, faith, and loving charity in the life of Jens Neilson, who was a member of the Willie Handcart Company. Jens, a relatively prosperous Danish farmer, heeded the call to bring his family to Zion. In Iowa he wrote that he had let all of his money go to the Church except enough to buy a handcart and stock it with 15 pounds of belongings per person. Jens wrote, “Obedience is better than sacrifice.” The people for whom Jens was responsible were himself; his wife, Elsie; their six-year-old son, Neils; and a nine-year-old girl, Bodil Mortensen, whom Jens offered to take to Utah. In the early Wyoming blizzard, temperatures plummeted below zero. The Neilsons had consumed their last pound of flour days before, but somehow they made it over the treacherous Rocky Ridge, urged on by their indomitable courage and unconquerable faith. Tragically, 13 of the company died at Rock Creek and were buried in shallow, snow-covered graves—among them, Jens and Elsie’s son, Neils, and young Bodil Mortensen.

President Hinckley describes this portion of the trail as “a trail of tragedy, a trail of faith, a trail of devotion, a trail of consecration, even the consecration of life itself.”

Jens arrived at Rock Creek, 11 miles beyond Rocky Ridge, with both feet frozen. He was unable to walk another step and pleaded with Elsie, “Leave me by the trail in the snow to die, and you go ahead and try to keep up with the company and save your life.” Elsie, with her unfaltering pioneer courage, replied, “Ride, I can’t leave you, I can pull the cart.”Such was the strength and the faith of many pioneer women on the trail.

A couple reenacted the story of Jens and Elsie (at about 20:20). I got teary-eyed as I watched Elsie struggle to pull Jens up that hill. At 22:48, the commentator asked the young men: “If you see someone struggling like this, what should you do? Go now and help if you feel so inclined”

A floodgate of valiant, eager-to-serve teenage boys raced across the field and down the hill, clambering to help pull Elsie pull the handcart with poor Jens inside.

Following the video, I asked Bode to share his thoughts.

“Mom, I can’t wait….”

I was sooooo excited. Had he finally been touched with the pioneer spirit as he watched many of the young men he admires rush in to rescue?

“Yes, Bode?”

“Mom, I can’t wait until I’m the one being pulled up that hill like Jens.”

Filed Under: Bode, Humor, LDS

Respecting the Motherland

October 6, 2014 By

My awesome friend Stacey bought my kids Canada shirts when she came to visit. They wore them proudly but since that time, the shirts have been gathering dust in their drawers.

I finally pulled out Bode’s.

“You need to wear this today.”

(Proud American) “No, I’m good.”

“I’ll give you something.”

(Proud American’s interest piqued) “Oh really? What?”

“More technology time today.”

Bribe, accepted! That kid put that shirt on faster than a Canadian summer (which only lasts a few weeks).

Later that day, his evil American sister was taunting him. “C’mon, Bode. Why are you wearing that shirt? It’s not like it’s Canada Day today.”

He coldly looked at her and retorted, “Every day is Canada Day.”

There may be hope for him yet.

Filed Under: Bode, Humor

Kenosha Pass: Colorado’s best place for fall colors?

September 23, 2014 By

Shortly after we moved into our house 10 years ago, our neighbors Lisa and Mike had just returned from mountain biking Kenosha Pass a.k.a. what they deemed “the most beautiful place in Colorado to see fall colors.”

It has taken us a decade but on Sunday, we finally made it!

Kenosha Pass wasn’t an easy victory. Church had just ended at noon, Jamie wanted to watch the Broncos vs. Seahawks showdown at 2:30 p.m., the kids begged to chill out for a couple of hours and the sky was threatening.

I knew Jamie wanted to go least of all but to his credit, he knew how much it meant to me so he rounded up the troops for the hour-long drive on U.S. Route 285.

When we got out of the car, Bode was emotionless, Jamie was counting down the minutes to the game and Hadley whined she was cold. “Let’s just stay for a little bit and then leave,” she suggested to Jamie.

Until we really arrived at Kenosha Pass. (I just wish my iPhone pictures did it justice).

Located atop a large granite batholith that forms the spine of the Front Range along the eastern side of South Park, Kenosha Pass is a part of the Colorado Trail. Colorado’s premier long-distance trail extends 500+ miles from Denver to Durango (read my adventures where the trail starts in Waterton Canyon) and this particular portion of the route is a cut of autumn heaven with swaths of endless aspen groves that look like golden pipe cleaners and staggering views of the Rocky Mountains and South Park valley.

Within moments, the kids were racing, climbing, exploring and laughing. I was initially disappointed by the brooding sky but Jamie observed, “If anything, the contrast illuminates the color of the trees and they look neon.”

He would know. He wore a jacket that made him an instant winner in our Camouflage game.

Accidental shot of a butt scratch

This South Park valley shot atop the boulder was much better

In typical Hadley fashion, she was ignited the moment she started exploring, begging us to go to the summit.

Jamie: “Do you realize that whenever you don’t want to do something and we make you do it anyway that you end up loving it?”

Hadley (sheepishly): “Yes.”

We still didn’t let her climb to the top.

This was one of my favorite photos I took as we were wandering back to the car. This shot of Kenosha Pass should be an album cover. The title would be “they whined about going and we couldn’t drag them away.”

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, Jamie, travel

Colorado’s breath of fresh air at Alderfer/Three Sisters

September 20, 2014 By

Today was like a breath of fresh air. After our month-long road-trip to Canada in July, I needed a break from traveling and we have become relative homebodies as we’ve fallen into our back-to-school routine with Bode’s soccer, Hadley’s volleyball, me coaching another volleyball team, church activities and poor Jamie working all the time.

Even though we had a busy morning with games, the fall weather was 70-degree perfection and I bribed the kids that they could skip chores if they came to play with me in the mountains that afternoon.

This is also known as being a bigger kid than your kids.

So, while Jamie watched the BYU football game and worked, we headed to the hills. One of our favorite areas to explore is Alderfer/Three Sisters Park in Evergreen, Colo., which is a gorgeous 30-minute drive from our house. Fall colors are beginning to emerge and my gosh if our explorations didn’t make the three of us exuberantly happy. I don’t think we realized how much we needed that adventure until we started doing it.

Though we enjoy hiking the extensive network of trails, what we love most at Alderfer/Three Sisters is bouldering on the steep granite quartz blocks that are piled all around the park.  I’d be lying if it doesn’t make me a bit nervous for safety reasons but today, we achieved summit firsts on various formations and had a blast!! Hadley, as always, was our mountain goat while Bode was initially cautiously adventurous, weighing various drops as “Hmmm, it seems a bit risky.”

And me? I rested from climbing at one point and was just content to watch the kids explore. Until, that is, Hadley accused me of “needing to be more like J.D.’s Grandma.”

Now, normally when someone accuses you of being a grandma, they’re insulting you but she was goading me on to become like J.D.’s hardcore grandma who was a butt-kicker as we climbed the Great Sand Dunes National Parks’ highest peak.

I wanna be just like her in my 70s.

Hadley’s fuzzy picture of one of many mountain bluebirds

We discovered hidden pools in the rocks.  Bode bravely role-played he was on American Ninja Warrior’s Mount Midoriyama as he leaped over crevasses. Hadley squealed at the influx of mountain bluebirds on their namesake trail. We acted out Y-M-C-A as our shadows projected onto our craggy movie screen. The afternoon sky burned blue and gold leaves whispered in the wind as we climbed our granite islands amidst a sea of Ponderosa pine and meadows.

After a couple of hours, Hadley was just getting warmed up and could have explored all day but I tempted them with ice cream and she took the bait for the second time that day (no chores and ice cream?)

Evergreen was bustling with activity and prior to getting our ice cream, we opted to stop into Seasonally Yours Evergreen Taffy Co. and Fresh Fudge for the first time. We spent an hour exploring this colorful, funky and fun shop that had everything from toys to novelty items to candy to the most gorgeous decorations.

After Hadley and Bode devoured birthday cake fudge and pumpkin ice cream, we raced down the serpentine Bear Creek Canyon with windows down, music blasting and the kids’ feet out the window.

Dare I say it was the perfect afternoon?

As we drove into Denver, we passed one of the few places we have yet to explore in Green Mountain. Hadley queried, “Mom, why haven’t we hiked there?”

My heart sang a little more because of her love for the outdoors. It doesn’t matter where I am in the world, if I see a trail all I want to do is climb it.

And today we achieved some incredible summits.

 

Filed Under: Bode, Colorado, Family travel, Hadley, hiking, Humor, outdoors Tagged With: ,

When your daughter conspires with the enemy

September 15, 2014 By

I went through two horrendously awkward years. The unfortunate thing about it was I had no idea just how goofy I looked. In fact, I thought I was Queen Bee and gosh darn it if I wasn’t at the top of my class in academics and sports in fifth and sixth grade.

It’s just my appearance that was severely lacking.

Frizzy hair? Check.

Geek glasses? Check.

Tacky ’80s clothes? Check.

I have justifiably burned most pictures from those years but my brothers have held onto a few gems for blackmail purposes (my brother Jade posted the above picture on Facebook a couple of years ago).

During my courtship with Jamie, I lived in Salt Lake City while he was in Denver.  When we got engaged, Jade dug into his secret stash and sent one of said Horrendous Pictures to Jamie. And being the horrid person that he is, he enlarged one of them, attached a “Welcome Home” sign and taped it to the front door the first time I ever came to his condo.

Jamie claims he could hear my blood-gurgling scream from the hallway.

When I was in Calgary over the summer, I went through some old boxes containing church manuals and magazines. I was thrilled when I discovered this treasure that was given to my mom by her beloved mother.

I love the inscription; Grandma always had such beautiful handwriting.

“Dear Chris, I hope you enjoy the book for your family home evening lessons. Love, Mother.”

My family loves snuggling up and reading the scriptures every night so I asked my mom if I can could carry on this tradition. What I love about this book is it is beautifully illustrated but also contains real scriptural passages (versus being summarized/paraphrased). I think it’s so important for kids to learn to understand scriptural language vs. just the stories because there is power and a strong spirit behind it.

So, what does this have to do with Hadley? As we were settling down to read the scriptures, I discovered something inserted into the book lo-and-behold, it was my seventh grade class picture. I was at the tail end of the geek years–I’d chopped my hair and the following year I got contact lenses so I was almost quasi-cool.

I won’t mention the trauma of how my mom liked my asymmetrical cut so much she got the identical style.

Hadley squealed, grabbed the picture and said, “I MUST DO SOMETHING WITH THIS!”

Even my sweet Bode turned against me. “Did you really look like that?”

I only wish I was dressed up for Halloween, Dude.

All was forgotten until I returned to my bedroom and discovered Hadley’s creation.

Now I’m just waiting for Fat Kitty to turn against me.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor, Jamie

When you’re begging to be sent to timeout

September 10, 2014 By

We’ve had a roller-coaster history with timeout.

During Hadley’s obstinate stage (ages 18 months-4 years) it was her second home. What a lovely dwelling that corner by the laundry room has become since we added Fat Kitty’s kitty littler box to the mix four years ago.

Talk about the ultimate punishment.

Since Bode is Mr. “Do What Is Right,” he didn’t have any marathon sessions in timeout but on the rare occasion he landed in the Corner of Shame, he was so broken about disobeying us that he would just sob.  Have you ever tried to discipline a sensitive kid? Trust me, you come out feeling like you’re the bad guy.

We really haven’t used timeout as punishment in a really long while because, for the most part, both kids are pretty well-behaved and there are certainly more effective ways of disciplining them as they grow older.

The other day, Hadley did something mean to Bode and instinctively, I ordered her to timeout. You know, for old time’s sake.

Timeout?” she scoffed. “Aren’t I a little bit old for timeout?”

“You’re right, you just lost technology time.”

“I take it back. Timeout sounds just fine.”

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley, Humor

The bright side of being a slob

September 9, 2014 By

Blurry Bode trying to keep me from taking a picture of his messy room.

For the most part, we keep our house tidy.

However, encouraging the kids to keep their rooms clean is a losing battle with the exception of making their beds, which they’re pretty good at doing most of the time.

Their actual rooms are another matter. Bode is the messiest and isn’t allowed to have any technology time until his homework is done and room is clean. This works great in the summer when I’m more lax on our schedule but during the school year, I only let him play video games twice a week.

Which means his room is only clean for a very small window twice a week.

The other night as I was putting him to bed, I commented on his messy room.

He carefully looked around, shrugged his shoulders and said, “At least you have a pathway to my bed.”

Filed Under: Bode, Humor

When the boy becomes a Cub

September 4, 2014 By

Scouting is in my blood. For years, my dad was our ward’s Cub Scout leader and I saw him camp with those boys, teach them to start fires, tie knots and everything under the sun. I desperately wanted to be a Boy Scout but there was a problem: I was a girl. And so I signed up to be a Brownie, fully expecting to have have the some rough ‘n tumble adventures as those boys.

Oh, how wrong I was.  I don’t think we went on any backcountry activities–in fact, we never even left the school stage where it was held. All I can remember was being required to wear ridiculously short brown dresses as our uniform, singing cheesy songs and skipping around in a circle.

Suffice it to say, I was a Brownie dropout after one year.

Upon turning 8, Bode reached a rite of passage in the church: he became a Wolf. We have a great Scouting tradition in our ward–in fact, most of my friends’ sons have achieved their rank of Eagle and are some of the most stalwart young men I know. I made Bode pose on his first day, telling him we’d share that picture in his slide show when he became an Eagle Scout.

“But Mom, we don’t know if I’ll become an Eagle.”

If you know anything about Mr. Responsible/goal-setting Bode, you know that once he delves into Scouting that boy will fly.

Their first gathering was a fun pack meeting at the lake on July 31 but his first Den meeting with Sisters Mauger and Phillips (his den leaders) was the following Thursdays when they learned about personal hygiene and household safety. He came home with a checklist of precautions we should be taking, which he took very seriously and proceeded to lecture us in the areas where we were lacking.

Welcome to the next 8+ years of my life.

Most of his besties are in his den, which makes it extra fun but that’s not what it’s all about. As we were thumbing through his Wolf Handbook, we reviewed the 12 achievements he must pass to learn his Wolf badge and I became convinced that every young man should become involved in Scouting as they learn everything from Feats of Skill (physical) to Your Flag to Tools for Fixing and Building to Your Living World to Family Fun to Making Good Choices.

The Boy Scouts of America has gotten so much flack in the media that people have forgotten what it’s all about. As I was waiting in the car one day, I watched a normally rambunctious and wild group of Webelos Scouts (age 10) respectfully learn to raise, lower and fold The Flag.

I was teary-eyed over their reverence…something that is NOT being taught in today’s society.

And coming from a Canuck, that’s really something.

Now, if I can just rope someone into sewing on all his scouting badges….

 

Filed Under: Bode

Happy Back-to-School!

September 2, 2014 By

We had such a fabulous summer that I was dreading school’s schedules and homework. Then I hit the kids-constantly-being-home wall a few days before they went back so the timing was perfect.

Hadley’s school started a few days before Bode. It’s tough to believe that she is in fifth grade.

And that she had a growth spurt and is now a few inches taller than her friends who are all fashionistas. Her friend Fiona even had hashtag-shaped earrings.

Welcome to the tween years.

As for Bode, he is now in third grade.  The nice thing about starting on different days is they each get their own special breakfast and celebration. Hadley asked me to make gingerbread pancakes and Bode wanted doughnuts. Lots of doughnuts.

The best news? He was in school when the sugar crash inevitably came.

Good luck to both of their teachers this year.

Filed Under: Bode, Hadley
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