Bampa

$2 Tuesday with cousins

Olympics watchers

The crazy days of summer

Awwww

My Mom is too cute. I remember her being there for me as a mom, and filling it her paperwork for the home visits she did while I was at school.... so seeing her in her scrubs, filling out paperwork, and playing with my baby.... awwwwww.

Seth's 2

My baby is officially 2.  I love him, he's a pill, and that's okay.  He's officially into the tantrums.  But honestly, for the kid that was the hardest to get pregnant with, stay pregnant with, give birth to, hardest baby, hardest kid to go to nursery... hardest toddler doesn't surprise me.  I'm expecting it will get better as he talks more... just like he cried less once he could get around on his own.  He talks, but not as much as the other kids did at this point.  Here are a few of the things that says consistently:

Choo-choo
Go
Dog
Cat
Dad
Ma
Ada
Grandpa
Grandma
Pooh (He likes Winnie the Pooh)
Car
Truck
Train
Tractor
Baa
Moo
Meow
Woof
Train track
Chocolate
Bunny (thun-thun)
Seth (teth)
Nella
Shoe
Sock
down
uh-uh
ah-oh
water
Hey
Food
Cup
Apple (which he uses for any fruit)
Wow!
Oh (for okay)
Boat
Bum (for diaper)
and my favorite question ".... go?" with a shrug and hands out with palms up.  He'll ask where Dad went, where certain toys are, where the cat is, where something went that he dropped...

Can you tell who's kid he is?  Chocolate, trains and food? 

He got the boat one from me.  When I take him out on a kayak, he very willingly will wear a floatie and say, "Boat go?"

He's sleeping in his toddler bed really well after a brief regression where he wanted his crib.  His favorite things are a blanket from Grandma Robertson and a stuffed bunny the size that he is.  Favorite foods are chocolate milk, apples, cantaloupe, watermelon, water, bread and spaghetti.  His favorite things to do are watch Thomas the Tank Engine, play with his toy trains and trucks, sit with mom and read books, play with his cat and dog, and wrestle with Dad. 

He thinks he should have his way all the time, and gives the best hugs and cuddles ever... including patting me on the back while hugging me.

Sealings

Speaking of Temple Sealings.  One that I don't think I ever wrote about was the sealing of my Mamina and Papillo.  After my mission, I was accompanying the High Priest speaker in another ward.  One of the ward members, the mother of a girl I went to school with (Missy Carr), came to me and asked if I was interested in a job.  For the next few months I cleaned house, washed laundry, cooked for, helped with physical therapy, entertained and generally kept an eye on the woman's parents that were living in her basement.  They only spoke spanish and I loved the chance to continue to use mine.  The mother, Mamina, was just recovering from a bout of cancer. Papillo was older and had a hard time getting anywhere except from his bed to the living room and back.  I fell in love with this sweet couple, especially Mamina.  She was a tiny little lady with big hugs and praise.  She had just gone through the temple for her endowments months before being diagnosed with cancer. She taught me a lot of yummy foods to cook, lentil soup being my favorite.  She called me her Angel.  When I started school again, my schedule was such that I couldn't keep looking after them and had to find someone else.  A year later, Papillo had passed away and Jer and I got engaged.  A year after that, I was invited to come to their sealing.  Never have I walked into a room and been absolutely overwhelmed by the Spirit before!  They were sealed to each other and to three of their four daughters.  I could just feel the love that God has for this sweet lady and the joy that their family past and future had at being joined together.  I am so blessed to have been able to see their joy.

Gentle chastening moments

Tonight Jer and I had the opportunity to go to the sealing of a family in our ward.  I have had conflicting feelings about the sister in the past.  I like her well enough, but some things she's said just rubbed me the wrong way (never anything about me... just comments that are easy to shrug off). They didn't bother me too much and we've been friendly in the past.  I even babysat for her a few times after her divorce a few years ago. About 8 months ago, she was called as my Visiting Teacher.  For the first 6 months, she and her companion never got around to visiting me... the next 2, they tried setting up appointments but didn't realize how hard to schedule my summers were.  But her desire to have a connection hasn't ended there. So I got invited to their Temple Sealing at the Mt Timp temple.  I love sealings.  There isn't a single one that I've attended that I haven't felt the spirit, so I said that I'd be there.  Jer wanted to be supportive, so he said he'd come too. 

Just as a little back ground, she runs her own business out of their home... she's had it for a few years and is doing really well.  It gets really busy, and that plus her two boys and the little girl that she's days away from having keeps her on her toes.  Her husband is very kind, and seems really young.  He went to the MTC, but for medical reasons didn't serve a mission.  While he was dealing with that, he met his now wife.  They make a good couple and support each other in many ways.  He doesn't work outside the home, he helps her with her business and the kids.  

They walked in, very pleasant and happy.  The sealer stood up to introduce himself like they all do, it was Bishop Gérald Caussé... the current Presiding Bishop for the church.  Apparently, he met the husband while he was at the MTC and they made a good connection.  What I want to remember are some of the things that he said to this couple.  I don't remember exact wording, but here's the gist. "While serving a mission is not a requirement for entrance into the Celestial Kingdom, an eternal marriage is.".  "You (the husband), could not be complete in yourself.  She brings things to you that you don't have, and she cannot be complete without you... you bring things to her that she doesn't have."  My favorite was something that he said while talking to someone outside of the LDS faith.  They were talking about Priests.  She was surprised that his congregation had about 40-50 Priests where hers had one.  She asked why you would need so many on a Sunday.  He replied, "The point is not to need 50 Priests on a Sunday, but to have a Priest for every home."  Then he urged the couple to go home and have him give his wife a Priesthood blessing and always be worthy to do so when his family needed him.  I LOVED what he was saying.  In this home where he seemed to be so unequal by the world's standards, he could still bless his family with the power of the Priesthood.  He is an equal partner in the family just as she is. 

It was a neat opportunity for me, not only to hear what the Bishop had to say, but to see this couple in a way that God sees them.  As an eternal family unit.  And instead of me being miffed about not being visit taught or comments said, I got to see how their continual efforts helped them become an eternal family.  It was a gentle chastening moment for me to remember to love and see as our Heavenly Father would love and see us. 

As a side note: her Uncle ended up being the Professor at BYU that Jer interned under that gave him the experience he needed to get his first job when we got married.  That was neat.

Then and now

I don't think we've had these 5 2nd cousins in the same place for almost 8 years... we did a picture of all the babies on the couch when they were little... I couldn't resist doing one now.  Aren't they all just so beautiful!

Chomper (William), Devin, Aubrey, Ada, Emma

Same order: Chomper (William), Devin, Aubrey, Ada, Emma

Ellis Family Reunion-last day

These guys asked for a Frisbee to play with while we were there... they loved it.  Emma (Monica and Brian's) and Ada don't know each other very well, but they know that they're cousins... so they played together anyways and had a blast.  I was VERY proud of Ada for including Evelyn in this game instead of telling her that it was only for two people.

Ellen (Landon and Katie's) joined in and they made it a fetching game.  Evelyn was their puppy and they'd take turns throwing it for her to fetch.  Very funny.

Hanging out with Grandpa

My mom and Addison.  One of the other things I like about these reunions is that the kids just climb up on everyone... They love all these adults and feel comfortable asking any of them for anything that's needed.

Jessie (Liz and Joel's) is the oldest of the Great-grandchildren... so fun... she's now mission age.... hint hint.

Kat (Landon and Katie's) is such a cute little spunk.  She's just a little bit younger than Evelyn.  I kind of miss when they were both little babies rolling around with their chunky thighs.

Emma and Ada's epic sand castle. (She got mad at me when I called it a castle... she said, "No it's not!  It's a village!"

The first half of Saturday was too windy and a little rainy for us to set up the canopies, but that didn't keep us off the beach.  We still went and chatted, built in the sand and the bravest ones swam.  By the end of the day it was nice and sunny again.  I got to take a bunch of kids out on the kayak too.  Fun times.

Here's the boys sand castle... they dug a trench and made a series of rivers.  Devin, Sam, Chomper (William is Jake and Candace's), and I think that's Brennan with the towel on.

Jer and Seth had all the bigger kids on the raft and would push and pull the raft with the waves... it was so funny!  At one point I saw 5 people fall off at the exact same time... including Jer, Ada and Evelyn.

Jordan (McKay and Sophie's)

Lunch with Grandma.