Now Do Ya Feel Like a Pioneer?

I have been thinking about Pioneer Day coming up & thinking that if they could zoom to today and see the way things are right now, they might be a bit surprised.

-That we actually PAY money to go to a place to exercise on a MACHINE. And - along the same lines - that we would PAY money to go run 13.1 or 26.2 miles in a race. That must just completely blow their brains. Why? Why? Why?

-That we go camping FOR FUN. We light fires for the novelty of it - not for everyday heat and cooking needs.

-How little we actually talk to each other face to face. Between TV, Cell Phones, ATMs, drive-throughs, movies, etc, I think they would be amazed.

-I think they would be shocked at the way people dress. Absolutely SHOCKED that girls could walk around wearing PANTS - let alone pants that are cut to the crotches and shirts that are tight & revealing. I could see mothers putting their hands over the eyes of their children - just watching people walk down the sidewalk.

-I think they would be fascinated with cars. The fact that I can go 250 miles in 3 hours. Unbelievable!

-I think they would notice pretty quickly the rudeness of society in general - and especially in our children. The back-talking, the defiance, the attitudes.

-I honestly think they would be appalled at our laziness. For all our cries of busyiness, do we need to do all our laundry by hand - or dishes? Do we need to cook all our meals over a fire or on a primitive stove? I truly think they would see our lives as full of empty business, and overall laziness.

-Grocery Stores. Walking into one of those would probably just blow them away. You BUY your vegetables and fruits? And you can get oranges at any time of year? Whaaa?

-I would like to see their faces as they witness central heating, air, and indoor plumbing. Definitely some of the greatest accomplishments since pioneer times.

-Waste. We are such a throw-away society! I think they would just truly WONDER at how we treat our things and how much trash we generate in a week.

-Child Bearing. I'm not completely sure how they would feel about giving birth in such a sterile environment with tubes sticking into you & shots, but I'm pretty sure they would be interested in a pain-free birth experience.

-After watching some prime time TV or movies, or listening to regular radio for a few hours, I'm convinced they would think the end of the world must be near with such appalling themes.

What do YOU think they would be surprised at?

Anyway, just some of my random thoughts. I am so thankful for the pioneers & their sacrifice. We still have so much to learn from them. We watched the John Rowe Moyle story in Young Womens a few weeks ago & I could not help crying at his unfathomable sacrifice. And - even though I think the pioneers in general would be very disappointed and shocked at the world today - I hope they would see that we still honor their names and our faith.

Ireland!

It seems that I never get around to doing a birthday post for Ireland because I'm always too busy trying to get the newsletter out, but she turned 4 a couple days ago & I just want to say how much I LOVE this little girl. Honestly - she is the sunshine in our home - always running around. Always so full of life & energy. Her imagination has really taken off lately & she will come up with such creative stories. I LOVE to hear them. I love her little drawings of stick people. I love the way she loves her sisters. I love how she says to me "Mom - you know I love you so much."

She was born BARELY on July 5th - at 12:33 in the morning. I don't know that I could have named her Ireland if she was born on the 4th, so I was glad she waited a 1/2 hour :) She was a week late & I had been in labor for over a day before I really thought maybe we should go in. I wasn't sure because with McKinley I was induced & I wasn't really sure these labor pains were the "real deal." I even had Jason call the hospital & ask what they thought & they said they had had a lot of false labor because of dehydration - so I wasn't sure, but I called my neighbor to take the girls so I could work through the pain & finally - at about 10pm, I told Jason we should probably just go in to make sure. The way to the hospital was surreal. Fireworks going off all over the valley. Jason pointing them out. Me screaming "Just GO!" When we were almost to the hospital "Sweet Child of Mine" comes on the radio, and I am crying. Walking up that huge hill to get to the women's unit in St. Marks Hospital. It was a l o n g walk up, having to stop for contractions. When I was finally checked, the nurse said she thought I was either a 4 or an 8, but she couldn't tell, so she went to get another nurse. I am praying "PLEASE GOD - let it be an 8!" The other nurse came in - and sure enough - I was an 8. It was a flurry after that - people getting tables with instruments, a nurse asking me questions, the midwife on-call coming (mine was out of town). PAIN. I knew I didn't want an epidural, but after they had broke my bag of waters & those transition pains started coming, I was just screaming "I can't do this!!" & all I wanted was a 15 minute time-out. Well, I didn't get a time-out & little Ireland came out screaming about an hour after we got there.

So - it's no wonder that she gathered all that momentum and energy from the 4th & is still our little firecracker.

She is named after my dad's mom - she migrated from Ireland in her 30's, and Jason's dad's mom - Anita.

WE LOVE YOU MISS IRELAND!!

June Newsletter

Below is our June newsletter. I (again) spent a lot of time doing a quarterly picture slideshow, but to no avail. It's just too big to upload. So - I'm going to have to go back to the drawing board on pictures. I may have to go back to monthly ones - or maybe every other month. We'll see. Anyway...Hope you enjoy!

FAMILY: June was a month of illness - Kezia got hand, foot & mouth disease & Ireland soon caught it. Then McKinley had the stomach flu and now Ireland has it. BUT before & after & in-between, we did have some fun. We went swimming twice, to probably 5 different parks, St. George, camping in our new trailer at Indian Creek (see this post), picnics, celebrating Father's Day with lots of homemade gifts & food, and celebrating Jason's 34th birthday with a surprise lunch at his work, watching the shepherds herd the sheep up the hill by our home, seeing the busyiness of Cedar with the Utah Summer Games & the Shakespearean Festival, the Groovefest quarter marathon & activities, watching Payson's baseball team get the bronze, & Heidi going to girls camp.

JASON: Happy 34^th birthday Jason! He got spoiled this month with Father’s Day & his birthday. Lots of yummy food and a few gifts. For his birthday, Heidi made him breakfast & then went with the girls to his work for lunch – with Café Rio and cupcakes for his co-workers. That afternoon, the forest supervisor kept telling him to go home to his girls, so he did come home & we had a wonderful afternoon J He also loved being able to see his family so much this month between Payson & Daken’s games. His boss went on a fire for 2 weeks this month & he got to hold down the fort at work while she was gone.

HEIDI: Heidi has been busy this past month training for a triathlon. She’s up to about a 10 mile bike & then a 4 mile run. She was happy with the quarter marathon. The first couple miles were downhill, but the rest was quite a bit of uphill, so she was happy with 50 minutes. She got 3^rd place in her age group. It was a bit difficult with the girls sick for a lot of the month – and by the end she was REALLY ready to get out of the house J Heidi got called into the Young Women's as first counselor & was thankful to go to girls camp & had a great time doing friendship necklaces, braiding & unbraiding lots of hair, eating yummy food, helping with (and going on) the iron rod experience, tie-dying shirts, learning about first-aid, singing silly & spiritual songs, roasting marshmallows & starburst, bearing testimonies, staying up way too late, playing the cup game, and just getting to know the girls & leaders a lot better. It was REALLY neat. Thank you sweetie, for taking Thursday off work to watch the girls.

McKINLEY:

-McKinley asked mom one day what it was like to be a mom. Mom said “some days it’s really hard. Some days it’s really great! But ALL the time, I feel very blessed.”

-After watching the 2^nd Tinkerbell movie, McKinley was determined to make a fairy house. She got a used Ovaltine can & put a Altoids mints can in there with a couple cotton balls for pillows. She even drew a tiny picture & glued it to the wall. She was faithful about checking it every morning, but so far – no fairy!

-At Indian Creek campground, we were sitting around the campfire & mom was talking about how Mary & Laura from Little House on the Prairie (which we’re still reading) would have thought it was silly to build a fire just for fun since they did it every day. McKinley said “yeah! It’s no fair that they got to have a fire every day!”

-For about 2-3 months now, McKinley has vetoed jeans. She will NOT wear them. She says that they are uncomfortable. So – she mostly wears leggings or skirts.

-We were talking about the 3 bears one day at lunch time. McKinley said “Well – now the bears know that they should lock their door!”

-After we picked up the kids from Aunt Keeley’s house after a temple date, mom asked McKinley if Keeley had fed them. She said “No.” Mom said “OK!” A few moments later McKinley said “We fed ourselves! We ate pizza!”

-McKinley was drawing circles and doing a good job. She turned to mom & said “Am I good at this or what?”
-One day McKinley came walking in with a handful of Tundra’s fur. She said “I know a way we could make extra money mom! Sell Tundra’s fur!” And no matter how much mom tried to reason with her, she would not throw it away!

-McKinley had so much fun playing with the dogs – especially while we were all cooped up with sickies.

-On Jason’s birthday, mom turned to McKinley & said “Do you think you’ll ever make it to be 34 years old?” McKinley’s eyes got really big & she said “NO!” Mom asked why. She said “Cuz that’s OLD!!”

-Lately when McKinley says she’s bored, mom (& dad) get really excited & say “you’re a board! Yay! We’ll take you to our new home that we’re going to build! And a talking board, too! We’ll bring people to come see it!” McKinley rolls her eyes, but she has mentioned less & less about being bored. J

-McKinley had the 24 hour flu at the end of the month. She puked about 3 times and wouldn’t eat anything. We were so glad it was over the next day!

IRELAND:

-Ireland has quite the sniffer. One night mom ate a handful of chocolate chips before coming to put the girls to bed. Mom was kneeling next to Ireland to help with her prayer & all the sudden she stops praying & says “mom – I smell something. It’s chocolate! Chocolate chips!” And one day we pulled next to a fast food place & when we got out she said “I smell chicken nuggets!”

-Ireland is still INFATUATED with leotards & swim suits. Mom can usually get her to put on somewhat normal clothes in the morning, but by the afternoon, most assuredly she has a leotard or swim suit on.

-One day we were coloring cards for Father’s Day & mom asked Ireland to color one more card. She said “Mom – I’m getting full of coloring”

-Ireland still had a hard time last month with sleeping. She will come into our room in the middle of the night or early in the morning. One time, about 3am, she came in & said “I just want to give you a hug mom.”

-Ireland caught Hand, foot & mouth disease from Kezia & was really sick. She threw up & kept saying “mom – I puked.” Jason gave her a special priesthood blessing that night & by the next day she was feeling much better.

-Mom gave Ireland some Sprite while she was sick. She put it in a cup & gave her some & she said “It’s too Sprite-y”

-Mom looked outside one day & saw Ireland out there watering the weeds.

-Ireland had fun playing with the dogs outside this month.

KEZIA:

-Kezia went to her 18 month appointment this month & everything looked really good!

-Kezia likes to add an O to everything, as it “Daddy-o”, “doggy-o”, “cereal-o”, “water-o”

-Kezi has decided she wants to be a big girl & sit on the potty. She keeps taking off her diaper & asking to go potty. So far she hasn’t gone, but she will sit on the Dora seat on the potty for quite a while. One time mom tried to help her wipe & told her to put it in the toilet. Instead she brought it to her nose to give it a blow.

-Whenever Kezi can’t find daddy, she will say “Daddy –work.”

-Kezi is SO good at saying prayers now. She will copy us exactly & she’s even started saying her own prayers – saying “Thank thee for mom, daddy, Tundra, Sydney” etc. The only problem now is that she thinks it’s her turn to say it every time & she will copy any person saying the prayer.

-Kezi has been our first girl to really get into the sounds that cars & planes make. She will see a car & say “vroom vroom!” or a gun & say “pshhh” like a real gun. Quite a tom-boy!

-Kezia got hand, foot & mouth disease this month & it was so, so sad. She was tired – then she had a fever – then she got the spots on her mouth and a little bit on her hands & a LOT on her feet. Mom didn’t know that’s what it was & unknowingly let her go to nursery L She still has skin coming off where her spots were. And she gave it to Ireland a few days later!

-Kezia LOVES to be tickled. She will say “Tickle (me) Mommy!” “Tickle Daddy!” and just giggle & giggle like crazy.

-One of the most precious things ever is that Kezi has started to randomly say “I love you daddy” or “I love you mommy” (or Ireland or McKinley). And sometimes at the table, she will wave to everyone one at a time & say “Hi Kinley”, “Hi Ireland”. SO Cute!