A Prayer for Optimism

Today we woke to a peaceful tangerine sunrise.

I always love to pause and relish in the beauty of mornings like these.

As I snuggled Cooper to sleep I prayed that my children would have just enough of my optimism to laugh when life is unfair and see the good despite the hard. 

More Basketball

Today brought us back to the gym again to watch the Grade 7 Basketball Divisionals. Hyrum had an 8am game and left his gym strip at school accidentally. I rushed everyone out the door at 7:30am so that we could grab his gym strip and drop him at the other school for warm up. We then had to wait around to pick up Camilla from Seminary, so we picked up a dozen donuts for us and a box of timbits for Hyrum's team. Once we had picked up Camilla I went around doing school drop offs and headed back to the Catholic school to watch Hyrum's game. They lost, but fought hard! 

When it was finished I whipped home to tidy, make lunch for the littles, and visit with my sister before heading back to town for his 1pm game (which they won). I ended up staying to watch the other Pioneer team play and then we took Hyrum's friend to the bus lanes and ran home once again with a crying baby. 

I quickly fed Cooper, grabbed Camilla's uniforms and went back into town to grab Ollie from piano, drop off her uniforms at the highschool, and pick up birthday gifts for Oliver's upcoming birthday parties. I got back home just in time to make some chili for dinner and feed the older three before they headed back into town with Daddy for youth group. 

I was finally able to shower and throw in a few loads of laundry after spending all day running around. I tucked the little ones into bed early as we have colds running through our house. I'm hoping they bounce back quickly!

 

In the Stands

Today I spent a lot of time watching basketball. Joseph had divisionals today and we got to watch all but one of his games with a lot of driving back and forth on Winter roads. I was able to leave Sawyer and Lily with my sister and Gramma, and Cooper slept through most of the games. The boys played well, but didn't end up placing. I do love watching Joe power down the court for layups though! I am grateful that I get to be at every game. When they look back on their childhood I hope they remember that their mamma was always there cheering them on from the stands.

 

They're Home

This morning we woke up with everyone back home again. They had so many wonderful experiences on their trip and it's been fun to hear about them! We had a relaxing morning getting ready for church and visiting. I was able to get pictures of a few of them, except for Fin who was off playing with Ollie and Sawyer all morning downstairs. On the way home from church today Hyrum commented how weird it will be when a few of the older children will grow and go on missions or move away. Being away from their siblings was hard and many of them were more excited to see Cooper than their mamma which made me laugh. When they facetimed me from the airport Camilla asked if I could put Lily to sleep downstairs in her bed tonight so that she could surprise her in the morning. They are all genuinely happy to see each other after such a long time away. I'm so grateful to be all together again. I sure missed my Mr. Stannix! Happy Sabbath!

(Our Souvenirs from Universal Studios)

 

Football

Not much going on around here today except for getting the house clean and ready for our big crew to arrive home! They get in very very late tonight. I snapped a few pictures of Cooper-Duper this morning. He grows and changes so much every day!

 

Ocean Sunsets

Our crew finished their cruise this morning and are passing the time at a hotel until their flight home tomorrow! I can't wait to hug them and hear all about their trip! They won't arrive home until after midnight, but I am happy to wait up for them. Camilla made sure to get some pictures of the sunset for me while they were cruisin'. She's such a beauty inside and out! I'm so grateful she's ours!

 

Leap Day

Today was leap day! I woke to a quiet house. Ollie got himself up for school, but wasn't feeling well, so I sent him back to bed before drifting off again myself. Sawyer and Lily slept in until almost 8am! We spent the day at home together while giant snowflakes danced to the ground outside.

In the afternoon we got a facetime call from our favorite explorers who were enjoying a beach and pool day at CocoCay! They were quite enjoying the wave pool, waterslides, drinks, and sandy beach. 

 

 

The littles all got to say hello and hear a little about their adventures before they had to board the cruise ship again!

 

Reminiscent

This morning as Oliver left for school Lily sat on the bench and looked longingly out the window, "I wish I was a kid like Ollie so I could take the bus!" It made me laugh.

It was a productive morning of snuggling and laundry folding.

At bedtime I found Lily trying on shoes in her closet instead of falling asleep. I checked her before I went to bed to find some fashionable teal sandals with strawberries strapped to her feet beneath her covers. I slowly removed them and pulled the covers up to her chin before placing a kiss on her forehead.

Cooper stayed awake for a good chunk of the evening before I filled his tummy with milk at bedtime. He cooed, smiled and interacted and then quickly nodded off to sleep on my shoulder. He's been giving me a good three or four hour stretch to start the night and it's been pretty amazing. I think he just needed life to calm down a bit to settle into a proper routine. It's been nice not to be running so much with the big kids away. We miss them of course! But my time with just these littles ones has been reminiscent of early years of motherhood when Camilla first started school and I spent my days crafting and playing with the little ones while we waited for her to return home.  Now we have activities and schedules to keep and life can feel a bit more chaotic if I'm not careful. I wouldn't trade it for the world, but I do sometimes miss those early days....

Back at Home

Yesterday we woke to snow much snow! After getting Ollie off to school and putting Cooper down for his morning nap, I bundled up to shovel the walks. 

Cooper has been so content and chill the last few days and it's been nice to be able to set him down for moments throughout the day to tend to the house. 

Gramma brought a brand new chicky over to show us! They have been pipping and zipping for the last few days and Lily and Sawyer have had their eyes on the hatcher window for a good chunk of the day. 

Sawyer managed to stick his tongue to the pole this afternoon and all I could do was chuckle to myself when he came in with teary eyes to show me. You'd think he would have learned from Ollie's mishap not that long ago, but no, he had to experience it for himself.

The children have spent most of the afternoon watching and snuggling the baby chicks. I've hardly seen them all day!

Even though it looks like Winter outside, it is Spring in my heart! 

 

Haiti

The first cruise stop on the Island of Haiti in Camilla's words...

Today we woke up extra early so we would have lots of time to explore the island of Haiti. After we had all got dressed and ate breakfast we headed onto the balcony and felt the heat of the Caribbean sun! Then off we headed down to floor one where we grabbed towels and headed off the cruise ship and onto the bridge that connected us with the island. 

       

As soon as we got on the island we raced for the beach and found a nice sunny spot with lots of umbrellas. The boys and I ditched our bags and ran to the water and it was sooo warm! After a little time in the sun Hyrum, Dad, and I went to our island excursion which was ziplining over the ocean! We walked along a sandy path that led us to where we would grab our gear. We walked inside the wooden building and were assisted by the staff who helped us size up for our gear. After we had put our equipment on we had a short safety video then we headed off the the first zipline which was called Little Dragon where we would practice. 

 

When our turn came to go down we practiced our flying position which was leaning back with our legs straight out in front of us and our landing position, which was a sitting position with our legs spread apart. After we were done practicing we hopped on a small bus that drove us up a mountain to the Dragon flightline where we would zipline over the ocean! When we got up to the place where we could get clipped in I convinced Hyrum and Dad that we would go first this time because Dad made us go last on the smaller zipline. 

 

 

Once it was our turn Dad, Hyrum, and I got all clipped up, then the staff member working the zipline radioed his buddy at the bottom to make sure all was clear and he sent us down. We ziplined over two different beaches and looked out at the ocean and at the beach where we were previously sitting. Dad made it to the end first, then I came flying in and then Hyrum. 

 

 

After we took off all our gear we headed back to the beach and found Joe, Fin, and Grandpa who were playing in the water with the frisbee. Dad and Grandpa went to go grab a pina colada (which was becoming a regular thing) and the boys and I stayed at the beach in the water. We were throwing the frisbee to one another in a circle and trying not to drop it. Joe threw the frisbee to me and I had to run a little to catch it and then I stepped on something that felt like a ball of needles! I threw the frisbee back to the boys and hopped over to my chair to see if my foot was okay. It seemed to be fine with the exemption of a couple pokes but when I looked closer I could see there was a spike in my foot. Grandpa was walking back to the beach when I told him what happened and he insisted that we head over to the medical station. We told the Doc what happed and he said he would get the spike out of my foot. He cleaned it out with like 10 different cleansers then dug around with a needle a little bit. He was unsuccessful and that's when I asked him if I could try and dig it out but he said "No! This is the most exiting part of my day!" After a couple minutes (and a lot of poking around) he finally got it out. Grandpa gave me the rest of his pina colada and we headed to the outdoor lodge building and grabbed some burgers and lemonade. After we ate we went back to the beach and sat in the sun for the rest of the day.