Juarez visit

You know those visitors who come into your home and slide so easily into your way of life that it feels like they were meant to stay forever? That's how I feel about my sister and her family.

They could stay forever. I think Eliza agrees because then she'd have a playmate to do all the things little girls should have a playmate to do.

Like covering bodies in chalk and jumping on trampolines and... not sharing.

Thank goodness chalk is not just for little girls. Timothy was all in, too, and drew a self portrait with remarkable likeness.

Of course, whenever anyone comes to visit us under the summer desert sun, we can’t spend much time on the trampoline for fear of melting right through the surface. So we seek out water, and getting out on our boat is our favorite way to do that.

Michelle and Jake really are so cute.

As is that spunky toddler on the tube. I love her like my own.

The handsome captain.

And precious little Lexi!

Both girls have a thing about a too-bright sky, and both of us moms have a thing about toddlers in sunglasses. So it works out well.

We always stay until the sun goes deep below the mountains.

When we’re not in the water or playing outside on the trampoline, we’ll chat, or watch a movie, or play a game. One evening these three played an epic game of Secret Hitler.

They had us all so fooled that it made me question my parenting skills that two of my dear, beautiful children could lie so convincingly.

One afternoon, Michelle and I were sitting on the front porch attempting conversation. But being mothers of small children, we were mostly having interruptions sprinkled with conversation. This particular encounter took Eliza a full minute and a half of sputtering before getting to her final point, which was: that she forgot.

But that’s why I love having the Juarez family around. They are talented in the art of rolling with the punches, and that makes it fun to simply ‘do life’ with them around. 

To end the evenings, we love to jump in the pool or hot tub. It's easier to have grown-up conversations like that. The colors in this photo make me laugh every time. Brian and Jake look like oompa loompas swimming in kool-aid.

Please come back, Juarezes!

Scrambled Thoughts

1. This is one loved puppy.

Part of me wonders whether or not we'll ever have another scrambled thoughts post without a bullet point devoted to her.

2. Digital Concerts are complicated.

On the one hand, let's be honest, it's amazing not to have to spend a whole evening putting on pants getting ready, rushing traveling to the concert, attending the concert, taking the family out for ice cream, traveling home, getting in bed late, etc. All we had to do was click on the TV, hook up the computer and push play. And once it was over, it was back to life in a second. It is also amazing to be able to send the link to all the family members who wanted to see it but who otherwise wouldn't have been able to.

On the other hand, most of my heart truly missed the excitement that comes along with all of those things up there. Halfway through their second song I even started choking back tears because of how sad it all felt. McKenzie and Carson had put hours into preparing for this concert, they were being directed by Ryan Murphy, the assistant director of the Tabernacle at Temple Square, they sounded so amazing, they were all dressed up and sparkling in their matching polo shirts (🤔), and their eyes were so proud. But at the end of each of their numbers there was an echoey silence in place of thunderous applause. And at the end of their performance, no one was waiting in the lobby to give them hugs and flowers. Covid has stolen so many moments. 

3. If you are looking for a good pediatric dentist, drop all of your other recommendations and go here. Right now. 

I've loved this dentist for my kids for years and years, and last visit solidified my loyalty to him and his staff forever. The dental hygienist picked up on Eliza's anxiety and she jumped in and took her in like a mother hen with a chick. At one point she even had Eliza be her assistant by holding the little mouth vacuum (uh... please tell me that's not what it's really called) to suction out McKenzie's mouth while the hygienist cleaned her teeth. Equally amazing was McKenzie, who tolerated a pre-schooler suctioning out her mouth.

4. Sometimes we wish we could just live at Nana and Poppy's house. 

 

Riley and Eliza are becoming friends, but it hasn't been fast. They are both a little possessive of their own opinions and spaces and ideas and... everything else. Miles helped facilitate a bit of a bond by playing the game 'Lock Miles Out of the House Over and Over and Over Again'. Riley and Eliza really had to work as a team on that one.

4b. But if you're not going to share your nerds, be prepared to hear about it for a long time.

Two months after this trip I got a text from my sister, Michelle: I want you to know that Eliza is in trouble around here. Last time you were in Midway she had a box of candy that Riley wanted. And Eliza didn't share. For some reason that is big news today. 

4c. The two main reasons we went to Nana and Poppy's:

To see my sister in a hilarious play called The Play Where Everything Goes Wrong (or something like that), and to count all the coins in a giant glass bottle that has been collecting pocket change for ... decades?

Okay, so that wasn't one of the real reasons, but we did it anyway. It took us four hours and, any guesses on the grand total?

$1043.48. That's one thousand forty-three dollars and forty-eight cents. And it's so incredibly heavy I'd love to watch a burglar come in and try to steal it.

5. Carson has music in his soul

A few months ago, 86-year-old Ethelyn Peterson walked into our home and offered to teach Carson to play the organ. This is maybe more shocking and impressive than you realize because, not only is Ethelyn Peterson 86-years-old, but she is also a highly disciplined, world renowned organist who does not teach just anybody. You have to be invited by her. She has heard Carson play the piano a few times and she can hear what I have always known. Carson has music in his soul.

He will start in August, after Ethelyn has fully recovered from her most recent heart procedure. She playfully and good-naturedly hopes aloud that she can get at least three good years of teaching into Carson before she finishes up life on this Earth.

6. Brunch with the ladies

I have ladies, guys. Changing the way I think about my life is liberating. I've decided to stop thinking that I don't have any friends around here and start thinking that I have lots of friends around here. It's working.

7. Chariots of Fire Sweep Through the Sky

Clouds are massive. 

M.A.S.S.I.V.E.

8.  Oh, Covid. Thanks for forcing us to figure out how to throw a baby shower over zoom.

Since these pictures were taken, Brian and Cassie have had the most adorable little baby!

But before she could have him, we needed to celebrate.

Michelle was really the MVP of the event, planning, researching, figuring out how to connect all of us digitally when what we really all wanted was to be together in person. 

9. McKenzie's Not-a-Boyfriend is the Sweetest.

He put together a scavenger hunt for her to collect puzzle pieces which, when put together, asked her to prom.

And right as she finished putting the last of the pieces together, he showed up with a bouquet of flowers and a hug. They really are so cute together. But also they're not together, sooooooooo...

Recently she said about their connection, "... it's not just a friendship, but it's not really a relationship, it's a situationship."

Whatever. They're cute, and I love them both.

Eliza's 4th Birthday

This beautiful girl on her 4th birthday.

All things princesses. All things puzzles. All things books. She asked me the other day if I would teach her how to read.

All things puppy. Maisy fits in her arms so perfectly, and Eliza doesn't take that for granted. I think Eliza likes to have someone to carry around and to mother. 

She asked to go boating for her birthday. And we are so grateful that we did because even though it was the first time we'd been out on the lake for the year, it would also end up being one of the last because of the low, low water levels.

Carson dropped a ski and stayed up on that slalom like a boss!

And Miles tried.

And tried.

And tried.

He came up out of the water laughing after every crash and asking to try again. Sometimes that kid is impressively resolute and confident in himself.

Eliza went out on the tube along with everyone else in the family (including Maisy (and excluding McKenzie who was staying overnight at Kaylee's cabin for Kaylee's birthday)).

Unfortunately she sub-marined, and while she didn't want to tube anymore after that, she bounced back to smiles impressively fast. Birthday feelings are powerful that way.

Boating is always a stress relief for me, and having Maisy aboard only made it more fun.

The boys are currently into 'trick-tubing', where we pull the tubes at a slow speed and let them try all sorts of tricks. Here's Carson trying to jump from tube A to tube B:

After a long, fun afternoon, we were halfway to the docks on our way back home when we got an SOS call from a friend we'd bumped into on the lake previously. They had hit a rock (low lake levels) and were dead as dead in the water. We were haaaaaaaaaaaapy to be on the helper side of this situation this time.

Our rescue mission pulled us into the night a little later than we were anticipating, so we didn't get to cake until after dark. But Eliza didn't seem to mind one bit. 

She lights our life, this one. Glues us together. She brings a softness and a sweetness which she mixes with humor and intelligence. Her smile will light a room every time, and when she has excitement in her eyes you can't help but feel excitement, too. Her hugs are the tightest, and her voice is so musical and beautiful that strangers comment on it when they hear it ringing through the air. She sits and composes melodies on the piano, and harmonizes with us when we're singing. 

She is magical.

But she didn't like the piñata. I thought it would be a fun way to end the evening, but it turned out to be a little bit traumatizing instead. 

Which, upon reflection, makes a little sense.

A lot of sense, actually.

Happy birthday, Eliza! Sorry for traumatizing you with the decapitated flamingo.