Love'm. Love'm all - Part 3

You know, I've never really been to a family reunion before as an adult. I have a few scattered memories of family reunions growing up (unless you count the annual Christmas Eve party...then I have some pretty solid memories), but I was always, of course, playing the role of the grandkid. Being an adult was actually quite fun! And what was more fun was to see my kids having fun with their cousins.

I have a lot of cousins. Like, a lot. So many that I wouldn't even be able to give you an exact number even if I thought about it for a while, and I certainly couldn't name them all. My dad is the youngest of 8 children, so most of my cousins are quite a bit older than me. Not so with my own children. They only have three cousins, and they all live in Sweden. So when they came to America for a visit, my mother-in-law jumped at the chance to plan her first Alder family reunion, and we were thrilled to jump on a plane to see them.

And so, driving up to Yellowstone, began the first reunion. It actually started out a little rough, with a trip to the emergency room with Carson. He was screaming (literally screaming) for two hours because of abdominal pain, and I thought for sure his appendix was rupturing. Turns out it was constipation... so that was fun to take care of.

But, we made it. And Yellowstone was beautiful. Absolutely, gorgeously beautiful. From the tiniest flowers growing wild and free in the forests..


...to the perfectly pillowy clouds fluffing along in the sky.

I seriously cannot believe I came home without a good picture of the clouds. I should have taken thousands! How could I have not pointed my camera up at those clouds? Every time I'd point another one out, Brian would roll his eyes..."you and your clouds," he'd say. It's true. I have a weakness for clouds. Always have. And, I don't get to see many in North Carolina. First of all, they don't have awesome clouds very often...and when they do, you can't see them very well because of all the trees that are blocking your view of the broad horizon. *sigh* I guess I'll just have to feed off of the pictures my brain took...

We rafted down the coldest river in the history of rafting down rivers -

Brian's little brother, Dave. Too chicken to let the water touch his skin...

Miles was out on this raft with Brian. He had a good time.

Samuel was exhausted after sitting in the cold water for a little while.

The first night we were there, we saw a mouse run underneath the stove...and the next morning found these inside the slightly opened marshmallow bag:

Yes, I'm pretty sure that is a mouse hair wrapped around that first marshmallow...

But the Alders didn't let that stop them from diving into the rest of the bag for the games that night


*Photo courtesy of my brother-in-law, Chris*

Miles had a fantastic time playing outside and spitting in Grandpa's face





And one morning I woke up at the middle-of-the-night hour of 5:30 to go into the park early to see something beautiful. I was not disappointed.

I would like you to meet the buffalo that almost chomped my ear off. I was leaning slightly out of the window in the cab of the truck, trying to get a picture like this:

When this nasty buffalo came right up to my open window without me noticing (because my eye was behind the lens....) and snorted in my ear. I was much too scared of him to try to get a good shot, so I clicked the shutter button once, and this is what we got:

YOU CAN SEE HIS TONGUE HANGING OUT! GROSS!!!
Man, if I ever start feeling down about the way I look, I'm just going to think of this nasty buffalo.

We met the rest of the family at Old Faithful to see the famous eruption. I must say...it left me quite lacking. That was it? I must be missing something.


I know I've said it before here on the blog, but I really do have wonderful, wonderful in-laws. The kind that you would hand-pick if you were given the choice. Thank you, thank you, thank you, Alder family for making the reunion so much fun!

Love'm. Love'm all - Part 2

Day 4: Loving the lake!

This is McKenzie's 'just before the boat started' picture. She was quite excited to go tubing with her Daddy, but as you can see in the next picture:

she didn't enjoy it very much. As the boat started, the tube submerged completely under the water (yes, with them completely submerged as well) before it popped up again and I think it scared the dickens out of her! Which made me sad. I love boating. I'd forgotten how much I loved it until I got out there again. It brought back so many awesome memories! Maybe we can convince her to try again next time. :) She forgave us a little once we let her drive the boat...


MILES, on the other hand, was in heaven! After he got used to the fact that we were not going to take the life-jacket off of him, he allowed himself to have fun. He giggled and giggled and giggled every time we went over a wave (which was quite frequent because it was especially choppy that Saturday afternoon). Oh! he was funny!



Here's the fam. Man, I love them! I had the zoom lens on my camera, and once we got out on the lake I was too chicken to change the lens for fear of water splashing inside...so I was pretty limited in what I could capture. I wish I had a picture of all of us in the boat together...but individual shots will have to do. :)

My Fun Dad:

My Perfect Mom

No, seriously...she's perfect


My Witty Sister, Michelle:

My Hilarious Brother, Brian:

My Incredibly Unique-in-an-Awesome-Way Sister, Amber:

And My Happy, Thoughtful, Teaser Husband, Brian

And, of course, no picture of me... I couldn't turn the camera around on myself with the zoom lens on, and everyone else was taking care of my children, so you'll just have to imagine how beautiful I looked all windblown. :)

Like I mentioned, the water was super choppy, and just after we'd been out on the water for an hour, we saw lightning in the distance and decided to call it for the day.



Day 5: A Sunday of sickness and family

I didn't get my camera out much on Sunday. McKenzie was running a fever (as weird as it sounds, this always seems to happen when I let her eat whatever she wants for a few days...weird and seemingly unrelated, I know) and my mom's brother came up to visit with his wife, kids, grandkids, and new dog. I had a great time reconnecting with them! I love my cousins, and my aunt and uncle are hilarious.

As I was walking past the front door just as the sun was setting, I saw (what I thought was) a beautiful patch of light outside. So I grabbed a little chair, my baby and my camera and took a few shots. I realized that the light was actually kind of harsh instead, and I think I had Miles in the wrong spot to catch the light anyway...but I liked just a couple of the pictures anyway. :) I shared one with you last post, but here's the other one I liked:

I love how his curly hair is almost the same color as the lilies in the background! Such a handsome little guy. :)

Day 6: Back on the lake!

A much, much more beautiful day as far as clear, smooth water goes! We couldn't get Kenz to go back out on the tube, but Miles gave it a try and loved it. Those sweet little cheeks are going to kill me, I think.
Brian got out there and skied. He did awesome! You'll just have to take my word for it, though, because my camera battery died right after he got up and before I could get a good shot. So, this is all I have. :)
I got out there, too - but the bad news is that after a nasty fall off of the tube, I jacked up my shoulder and couldn't ski. I seriously couldn't even move my arm for a few days. I even needed help getting dressed! You know, I'm still actually a little concerned about it, come to think of it... It's been, let's see, 16 days and it's still not back to normal. Kind of funny story about it: last night I knelt down by my bed to say my prayers and rested my folded arms on top of the mattress. As my prayer got longer and my body got more tired, my arms stayed on top of the mattress but my body started slouching so that by the end of the prayer, my elbows were directly over the top of my head. When I stood up, my hurt shoulder wouldn't let me lower my arm back down! It got stuck for a full minute and I'm sure I looked like an idiot with my armpit exposed to the world (or my dark bedroom). Do you think it's normal for an injury like this to take so long to heal? Should I get it looked at, or just give it more time?

Next post: Yellowstone!

Love'm. Love'm all - Part 1

This is my awesome family

I never thought I'd say this, but I have way too many pictures of our Utah/Yellowstone vacation. If I posted them all (don't worry, I won't) you would probably feel like you had been there to experience it all for yourselves!

I think this says something about the vacation, though.

Like most of you, I pick up my camera when I see something I want to be reminded of later. I can't bear the thought of not remembering Carson's shy smile, or Miles's weird hand greetings, or McKenzie's my-teeth-are-all-falling-out grin. Likewise, I can't bear the thought of not remembering the details of this vacation!

For the past month or two, my life has felt like it's been spinning in the winds of a strong tornado. I have felt my strength draining from me bit by bit (and sometimes chunk by chunk) as the tornado has fought to tear me away from my comfort zone. I don't doubt that the tornado itself has been generated by God, designed to make me stronger, but Satan has been riding on the wings of the winds, whispering words of discouragement and self-depreciation that my ears can't help but hear. He has been using the strong winds as a tool to distance me, emotionally, from my friends and family. It's taken all my energy to hang on and pull my children and my husband back down to stable ground...away from all the changes that are swirling around us...just to have us swept up again in another gust of wind. I've been exhausted. And days before we left for Utah, as another strong gust whipped us around, I felt I was operating on the strength of God alone.

I guess, given this background, I shouldn't have been surprised when I felt a tightened lump in my throat as I made the right-hand turn up the road to my parents' house in the beautiful, summery-green mountains of Midway. But I was surprised. I was even more surprised that when I caught first sight of my dad, watering his lawn in his purple and black striped shirt, the tears actually stung my eyes. Everything is still the same. Safe. Familiar. Loving. Stable. "There's Poppy!" I said to my kids. And once I threw the car into park, I did nothing more than power-unlock the doors before I jumped out and ran for a good old fashioned dad-hug. One by one, the rest of my family came out the front door and I was surprised again at how intensely happy I was to see them. Of course, I knew I would be happy, but I wasn't expecting happy-tears to flow.

I felt like I was plugged in to an emotional battery charger the whole time I was out there. I came back to North Carolina physically exhausted from all the fun, but emotionally recharged. I'm ready to face the changes happening in my life now, and I'm pretty sure I can do so with a smile on my face again. Ahhhh - - - it feels good to be back to a better me. :)

So what made our vacation so wonderful? Well, here's a start....

Day 1
The kids and I spent the first day in Farmington with Brian's great, great family.

*Playing with cousins, and trying to get enough of Grandma

My kids only have three cousins...and they all live in Sweden. Makes play-dates a little difficult! I totally love how quickly kids fall into play with each other...and after this Candy Land adventure with grandma on the first day, these four had a great time together.

*Grandma bought a swing-set

One sure way to a child's heart: own a swing-set. And put a pool down by the end of the slide. That should do it.

*After a short adjustment phase, Miles was so sweet and happy

Day 2

We headed out to Midway in the morning to spend a few days with my family.

*Making a lot of noise with the band

*Having a silly-string war with Poppy



Lounging around in the hammock



Spending the entire day switching out which dress-up to wear from the big yellow dress-up bin.

Day 3

*Slip-slip-slip 'n' sliding!






*Playing marbles at Great-Grandpa-Arvid's house.


My grandpa is 94 years old, and the morning after we left his house, he suffered a stroke. After two and a half weeks, he's still in the hospital with a grim prognosis. Whatever happens, I'm so glad I was able to spend some time with him that night.

Stay tuned for more fun...

55 minutes

Imagine this:

You arrive to the airport fifty-five minutes before your flight is scheduled to leave.

No stress, no worries, no rushed feelings.

You're the only adult in your party...the rest of it consists of three young children, three carry-on roller bags, three backpacks, one large camera case, one uncooperative stroller and three carseats. God blessed you with two hands, but you feel that they are quite insufficient when compared to the load before you, so you graciously accept an offer of help from the nice man standing on the curb waiting for his ride.

45 minutes before your flight is scheduled to leave, you discover that you cannot check in using the automatic kiosk provided since you are traveling with young children (what? tell me why that matters...!). You must go stand in that line. Way. over. there.

You successfully move your oversized load to the back of that line by coaxing the stubborn stroller forward with the infant inside it, pulling a bag behind you, carrying your backpack on your back and your camera case around your shoulder, encouraging the kids to keep their roller bags on the wheels (repeating over and over that if they'd leave their backpacks on with both straps, they wouldn't keep falling off), and kicking the three carseats along with your feet. One....... Two....... Three.......... One........... Two........... Three.........

20 minutes before your flight is scheduled to leave, you find yourself standing in a stagnant line after the series of events has raised your stress level from zero to one-hundred. Still not checked in for your flight. You begin to have nightmares of spending the night in the airport with your children.

15 minutes before your flight is scheduled to leave, it's your turn. You rush up to the agent and plead with her to be quick. Be quick. Be quick. This is where you learn that they will not be able to check your carseats, there is not enough time - - - you will have to carry them through the airport. Or kick them. Or throw them.

Time stops for a moment in your brain and it seems like hope is lost. You're thinking about the five full minutes it took you to cross this one room with your load. There is no way you can make it to your gate in 15. Remember, you still have to get through security. Suddenly, your brain snaps back into action as you decide that missing your flight is not an option. You turn to the black man in a yellow shirt towering next to you (the same one that your 3-year-old unabashedly kept calling a girl the whole time you were in line because he has a huge diamond stud in his right earlobe) and boldly ask him to carry your carseats for you. (So way, way, way out of your comfort zone, by the way.) He hesitantly agrees, but that's good enough for you.

You charge with your crew to security where blessings of no lines and angels in the form of security guards help you unload your baggage onto the security belts. The guards ignore the four bags of liquids you had zipped up somewhere in your luggage, and the full sippy-cup of milk and carton of yogurt you were carrying. Bless them. Bless them all.

5 minutes before your plane is scheduled to leave. Your heart sinks a bit as your hesitant helper dumps his whole entire backpack out into the tray to go through security. Books, notebooks, pens, random scraps of paper, erasers, headphones, CD's, little pieces of candy and who knows what else now fill the gray tray. You can't wait for him to get it all back together, so you give your 6-year-old two roller bags to take charge of, stack all three carseats on top of each other and in one swooping motion, pick them up, prop them on your left hip and force the wheels of the stroller in the direction you need them to go. "Run to the elevator!" you yell to your kids. You know it's unfair to expect your 6-year-old to take charge of two roller bags, but you have no other choice, and after you exit the elevator at full speed, it's all you can do to keep the tears back as you watch her very best effort result in little frustrated cries, and big roller bags flopping all around behind her. Her little frustrated cries soon turn to large tears. You can't stop to help her...you don't have any extra hands anyway...so you throw words of encouragement over your shoulder, "You are doing so great, McKenzie! I know this isn't fair, and I love you so much!"

Over the loud speakers you hear, "Delta Airlines paging Alder, party of three, the gate is closing. Alder, party of three..." You feel like yelling back at them that you're coming, but logically, you know that would be stupid. So you turn around again to encourage your kids to go just a little faster. You see McKenzie pulling both suitcases with her whole weight, but they're not moving very fast. "I'm so sorry, McKenzie. You're doing awesome!"

Just then, a man in a suit approaches you and asks if he can help. You look into his kind face and burst into tears. "Yes! Here!" You practically throw your carseats at him, grab one of the rollers from your 6-year-old with your free hand and start charging through the airport as fast as your legs will go. "We're going to C7!" you yell to him over your shoulder. You catch a glimpse of him running after you, his suit jacket and dark hair flying behind him, his extra-shiny shoes keeping up with the pace. C2.....C3.....C4.... Your heart fills with gratitude and a little embarrassment as you hope he's not on his way to an important business meeting where a tousled look would not be suitable.

You turn around the corner of your gate and notice right away that the workers are all waiting for you. They check your carseats and two of your bags "Would you like them to go all the way to Salt Lake, or do you want them at your next layover?" they ask. "All the way to Salt Lake," you say without hesitation, "I don't want to see them again."

You turn to the man in the suit and thank him sincerely for his help, then enter the walkway with your kids as they shut the doors behind you.

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And, if that wasn't enough. . .

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Your layover is in Detroit. You have just under an hour scheduled there, but since the plane didn't leave on time (ahem...) (we actually had to wait on the tarmac for over 20 minutes until a spot opened up for us to take off), you pull into your terminal exactly 20 minutes before your next flight is scheduled to depart. You deplane with 10 minutes to spare and are grieved to see all three of your carseats waiting in the pick-up area with your stroller. You can't help it...the exasperated grunt escapes from you without you even noticing it. Thankfully, the worker standing next to you notices it and asks you if you're missing something. "No," you say, "I asked for these carseats to go all the way to Salt Lake - - - my next flight leaves in 10 minutes, and I can't carry them all the way through the airport."
"Let me see what I can do. Stay here."
"But my flight! It's leaving in 10 minutes!"
He raises his hands in a reassuring manner and says, "I will be so fast."
You stand in the pick-up area for two minutes...every second feels like a minute...before he returns with fire under his heals, scoops up the carseats and says, "I'll take care of these. Run!" You're not sure you'll ever see the carseats again, but you turn quickly and start running through the tunnel. Your kids are awesome.

You emerge at gate A34 and soon find out that your flight is leaving from gate A4. So you run. And run. And run. Your stroller is just as stubborn as ever, and quite impossible to steer with one hand, so you run into three different people on the way. You try to sound excited for your kids and turn the burning muscles into a game. "Oooooh, do you feel your legs burning?! I sure feel mine! Let's pretend it's a fire-breathing dragon that's chasing us and we have to get to our plane fast before he burns us all up!" A26...A24...A22 "Oh, excuse me. Sorry I just ran into your leg with my big monster stroller." A18...A16...A14 "I'm tired of wunning, Mom." "I know, bud. Pretend you're flying instead." A10...A8...A6 "Look! There's our plane!"

You turn around the corner of your gate and notice right away that the workers are all waiting for you.

You turn to your kids and thank them sincerely for being so strong and brave, then enter the walkway as, for the second time that day, they shut the doors behind you.

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And, miraculously, everything is waiting for you when you reach Salt Lake. Your family, your luggage, your carseats. Now there are ears to complain to, and hugs to reassure you, and everything seems right again. You can focus more on all the great people who helped you along your way.

You're home.