Misc

Jer is the cutest.  He has been practicing duets to play with me.  I think it's my favorite "extra" thing he's ever done for me.

Ada "playing" with the daycare.  She came out to water her garden and jumped in with the kids.

Evelyn took a turn as the usher at church.

She was stretched out so funny.

Summer daycare

My friend, Michelle, and our yearly campfire.  I enjoy talking to her.  I know this year has been rough for her and I hope she has a better one.  I love seeing her and chatting.  She's a fun friend.

I say it looks like a nose.  Seth says it's a mitten.

Evelyn gave the prayer at church the other day too.  She was nervous and wanted to say no.  But she did it and did it well!  Bro Murinaka was so cute.  He walked to our house and asked her in person.  Then he helped her not be nervous.  Good man!

Ada gave blood for the first time.  Jer goes regularly and invited Ada to go too.  She was nervous but did it anyways!  I'm proud of my kids learning to do things that scare them.  She has o- blood, so they might be asking her again.  Grandpa has golden blood.  His is O- and it's negative for all the things that they test for.... universal donor. She might be related.

 

July 4th

The morning of the 4th, we dressed up to cheer our neighbors as they put on a 4th of July parade.  It was super cute.  Then we enjoyed egg thingers for breakfast and did chores for the first half of the day.  We got all the tests from the COVID tests that we did earlier in the week.  They are all negative, which is awesome.  Then we went to the cemetery to shoot off rockets, played games together, had root beer floats, made hamburgers and shot off our fireworks.  Jer does a great job picking fireworks every year.  This year was no exception.  Extra bonus?  Since they aren't holding the Stadium of Fire this year, they put on three different firework shows all through Provo and Orem.  From our front porch, we had a direct view of the one that they did near Mountain View.  Our neighbors went a little extra in their fireworks too.  I think that the pandemic + civil unrest + everything that goes with them + local fires = very exuberant displays of patriotism and family parties.  It was quite the show.

Robertsons

I'm sure this was at some reunion or another, but I love seeing old pictures.  I know which one is Jeremy for sure.  I love and appreciate this man more and more every day.  I didn't know when and if I would get married one day, but my patriarchal blessing said one line about it.  No more.  No indication of when or who I would get married.  Just, "You will recognize and be impressed with this fine man."  And I am, every day.  I'm not very lovey dovey, especially when I'm sick, stressed or overwhelmed, but I want to record how good he is for me and to me.  My Dad served as a Bishop or in the bishopric for many years.  He would come home and tell my Mom, "Thank you for being normal."  And I understand that!  

Saturday, while I was taking pictures of a family which is very loving and supportive of each other, there was a cute little family that just showed up to go hiking.  There were the parents and what looked like 6 kids very close in age... None looked older than 7/8.  I thought, oh cute, they're taking a family outing.  I said, "Yay!  Have fun hiking you guys!"  Most of the time when I say stuff like that I will get a smile or a wave out of little kids.  I'm not an intimidating person. NONE of the family even acknowledged I was there and the parents were horrible to each other!  One of the sons shoe laces were untied.  The Dad got after the Mom for not teaching him to tie his own laces yet.  Mom asked if Dad would tie them because she had a baby strapped to her chest and it's hard to bend without feeling like you're going to dump the baby out of the carrier.  The Dad started berating her and saying that it was her duty as a Mother and that she should be doing her Motherly duty.  UMMMMM say what?!!!!!!  I get that people get testy sometimes and snip at each other when tense things come up....  like taking 6 young kids on a Saturday outing... but WHERE does it say that a mother's duty is to tie their child's shoe laces when already doing something that prevents it to be done easily?  I'm sorry that they were fighting in front of their kids, but I was a teensy bit proud that the Mom didn't just take it.  That is definitely verbal abuse and unrighteous dominion.  Yes, a mother should nurture their children... and so should a father.  I wanted to strangle him.  If I were just out hiking instead of working, I would have said something even if it hadn't made a difference.  For the sake of the family I was working with, I did not.  What a lazy jerk!  He was using motherly duty as a reason for him getting out of doing what he didn't want to do.  I will say, my Dad cleaned the house, clipped our fingernails, got us dressed, fed us... just as my Mom did.  I chose to be a stay at home mom, so I do most of the cleaning, homework and feeding so that we can have time together as a family in the evenings, but Jer has NEVER told me no if I've asked for help.  He does dishes, night feedings with the baby, laundry, reads with the kids, carpooling kids to activities, etc.... When I'm sick, he takes a day off work and does it ALL.  And guess what, I'm more in love with him after 15 years because I don't feel like I'm pulling on my own.  I LOVE IT!

Christmas Morning

I loved this part of my Christmases growing up.  I loved all piling into my parents room and giggling with anticipation.  We always came in youngest to oldest, so that's what we do in our house too.

His favorite thing was this chocolate truck.

The "Xbox"

We had a very good Christmas.  We got time with both sides of our families and had time with just us.  Christmas Eve we had some fighting, but that stopped when I threatened to take away presents.  Christmas morning was presents and family time.  Christmas evening was games with the Tarkingtons.  I mostly wanted a nap after all was said and done, but I enjoyed being with all these wonderful people.

Evelyn wanted an Xbox.  That wasn't going to happen so Ada gave her an "X box" a box with an X inside it.  Evelyn thought it was hilarious and still has the box with all her Christmas candy in it. Evelyn's main present was a stack of books.  She gets the Amulet books from the school library almost every week.  Now she can have her own. (We got them cheap through the school scholastic account). Ada's favorite present was a pair of Llama pajamas that she's been wearing constantly and a set of water color markers that are rather fun.  Seth got some dress ups that he was pretty excited for and Sam got a couple of big stuffed animals to replace the ones that Seth has stolen from him.   We got some Lego sets that were a big hit, and I'm grateful that we were able to find some sales on those.  Finding Legos for even $10 off is rare so we were pretty lucky. 

Jeremy spoiled me.  He upgraded my computer.  My old one kept turning off while I edited photo shoots and I'd lose a lot of my work.  He put together a Black Friday sale computer that I love and has run very well.  My parents bought each of the kids suitcases.  It will be nice next time we go anywhere.  For now, they've all put their gifts into their suitcases and have been wheeling them everywhere they go.  Grandma Robertson gave the kids money.  Sometimes they keep the money, but most of the money they get goes into a savings account.  Sometimes the kids would rather have money for candy, but usually I show them how much they've saved so far and they want to keep saving.  Yesterday we biked to the bank together (Yeah, no snow at this point) and I taught the kids about savings accounts vs CDs.  The oldest three decided that they wanted to buy 5 year CD certificates.  I was really impressed with Sam's math.  I asked him how much money he'd earn in 5 years and he told me $60, in a savings account he'd earn $20 in the same time.  I did the math and he was right.  Seth doesn't have enough money in his savings to really make a difference between a CD and a savings account so we left it in his savings. All the money that they earn/save will either go to a car/house/wedding or to school/mission.  I figure that by the time they're that age they will have about $1500 each.  More if they're careful and find jobs.  That doesn't seem like a lot, but I'm hoping that they will learn how to save and about long term investments.  My Grandpa Wilcox was very good at that and had many of the physical blessings that I want for my kids.  (Retirement, Senior missions, enough money for medical emergencies, etc...)

Money is crazy. When we first got married, between Jer's and my income and all our expenses we had about $2000 extra every month for paying off Jer's student loans, fixing cars, house projects, computer upgrades, extracurriculars and travelling (A lot of that went into savings that paid for our fertility needs over the last 11 years).  I knew that was a lot more than most newlyweds and tried to be wise with it. I've loved working since I was little and never really had to cut out most things.  Now is different.  Jer makes about twice as much now than when we were first married, I don't work except for the one piano student and the few photoshoots...but between having 4 kids and house needs, that extra has turned into about $430 a month to pay for fixing cars, medical bills, clothes, piano lessons, sports, road trips, and house projects. We are still so blessed, but this year has come with a lot of financial belt tightening.  Next year will be similar.  Christmas has turned into a smaller affair and the kids are okay with that.  One more year and we will have Jer's car paid off and the money that we've been paying to Ada's orthodontics will probably go to Sam's.  (The dentist thinks that his airway and mouth are too small and that's why he is so sensitive to smells and textures in his mouth.  Apparently the shape of his mouth and throat plus his sensitivities are symptoms of the same thing.  His panic attacks at the dentist and over foods are because of having a hard time breathing properly and his allergies combined.  They are recommending that he goes to a TMJ specialist and have his jaw widened.  The orthodontist did that with Ada, maybe we can just do it there.  Our insurance covers $2000 of orthodontics where they wouldn't cover the TMJ specialist.)  We will have to buy Ada some more shoe orthotics (Ada apparently also has skewed foot that only started to cause a problem now that she's growing so much.)  The orthotics that he gave her are only $50/pair, but they wear out after 3-4 months.  Evelyn has $400 orthotics that have solved most of the pain that she's had, and he tried to make sure that he made them longer so that hopefully she'll fit them for another year.  The biggest challenge for both girls is making sure that I can get them good shoes that fit their orthotics that aren't terribly expensive and have to be replaced every time they grow a tad.  They went from having 3 pairs of shoes each to having one.  They have been wearing their tennis shoes to church and I remember when I was little and wore mine to church too. I didn't mind and the girls don't seem to either.  Ada tried wearing her old Sunday shoes last Sunday.  She brought the tennis shoes in the car.  She lasted for about an hour and decided to switch shoes after sacrament meeting.  As they get more grown up, I'll have to find good and pretty shoes that will do the job. The good news is that so far I have noticed a difference especially in Evelyn.  She runs like a kid instead of on her heals and only complains of pain if she hasn't worn her orthotics that day.  Ada doesn't stand with her ankles turned in so much and hopefully this will help her enjoy hiking with Dad longer.  The very first question that the podiatrist asked her even without knowing that she liked hiking was, "How far into a hike before your feet hurt?"  Not if her feet hurt or how often.  He knew that they hurt just by looking and just wanted to see how much she could do before they hurt.  I'm grateful for a podiatrist that knows what he's doing.

She Will Find What Is Lost

Jer bought me this painting for Mother's Day a couple years ago.  It brings me hope and comfort.  Jer always sees it from a genealogy stand point.  I see it as God always sending help and support.  When we were at the conference center I saw the original.  I loved the blurb down the side.

In Luke 15:4 we read, "What man of you, having an hundred sheep, if he lose one of them, doth not leave the ninety and nine in the wilderness, and go after that which is lost, until he find it?" And so it is with us.  Heavenly Father seeks us when we are lost. In this painting, angels descend from heaven to comfort a woman and assist her. No matter what has been lost in our lives - a loved one, our hope, our health, or even our faith - we are never left alone, for He will send enabling help to find what was lost.