thoughts on a sunday

• This week has been full of sickness, wart-fretting and travel.  I'll start with the travel.

• Brian went to San Diego with his dad when he was eight years old.  That sparked a long standing tradition in his family of each kid going to San Diego just with dad.  Brian and I decided we liked that idea and decided to keep it going on our little family too.  McKay was given a few choices of where to go, and with the prospect of a gigantic zoo and Sea World, it wasn't very hard for him to choose San Diego too.  They left on Thursday from the Provo airport.

• McKay was so excited- like Christmas excitement...which is funny because Christmas happened like five minutes ago.  They had so much fun and I loved getting pictures and phone calls and facetime several times a day with my little boy.  The big boy would never have called me so often.

• I thought a lot about Adele sending Brian and big McKay on the same trip and how there was no such thing as facetime and texting and probably not even a cell phone...unless McKay was really cool and important...which he might have been.  

• Brian let McKay pick what they did and where they ate.  They went to an aircraft carrier on Thursday and ordered a Dominos pizza at the hotel.  McKay insisted that it had to be Dominos- no one really knows why.

• Friday was spent at the San Diego Zoo.  McKay's favorites were the pandas.  He also tricked a girl into thinking he was giving the jaguar commands, and a highlight was seeing a snow leopards overspray splash a lady when he peed.  These are the things that captivate my boy at the zoo.  They got all fancy and went to the Cheesecake Factory that night and McKay couldn't help but wonder, and ask Brian frequently throughout the meal, if this was what it was like on a date.  Fancy indeed!

• Saturday, McKay saved the best for last: Sea World.  They spent the whole day doing things like feeding bat rays, watching just about every show there was to watch, observing the sea lions being fed, going on a few rides (who knew they had rides?) and shopping for souvenirs.  Brian was worried going into this trip, knowing that souvenir shopping with  McKay has taken painful amounts of time and stress in the past.  But he was pleasantly surprised when McKay laid his eyes on a glass, dolphin paperweight sphere that has glow-in-the-dark features.  He saw and he just knew.  So that was a nice surprise.  He also thoughtfully picked out a stuffed animal whale and dolphin for his sisters.  That night Brian actually chose the food.  Against McKay's will, they went to Subway, as Brian was suffering from eating too much restaurant/fast food.  Brian said, "McKay actually likes Subway...if you order a sandwich with nothing on it...except melted cheese."  They spent the rest of that evening watching a football game in their king-size bed.  

• And that was it!  They got up super early and were home shortly after the girls and I got home from church.  The girls and I missed them and it feels good to be all together again.

• One thing worth noting is that Brian's worst fear came true the morning he left for California.  There was a leak in our roof!  I discovered it in the garage right after I took Ellery to school.  I put a bucket under the drip, wiped up the shelves and called Brian's dad.  McKay came over that afternoon to check it out for me (and shoveled my driveway) and we both decided it was best not to tell Brian.  I kept the secret until he got home.  It did only leak that day- but this is still tragic news for Brian. 

• Okay, so now that's documented- we can go on to more important issues.  Like my daughter's wart...who we have recently named the Wart Monster.  This name came easy, as the wart is back, in full force, growing, expanding in all directions and being as gross and obtrusive to my Ellery's foot as never before.  The poor girl- it is right on the ball of her foot and growing outward...like it's getting taller.  I was really concerned when Ellery was obsessed with showing people her wart, telling people about it, calling people when there was new news regarding her wart.  Like, I just could see this obsession growing and getting stronger and I wanted to downplay the wart.  Well, friends, I'm sorry, but this wart is taking over our lives.  I am now right there with her.  We inspect it with my book-light maybe twice a day, you know, just to see if there's anything new.  We are horrified and intrigued and sucked into it together.  

• I think the reason I got sucked in is because of how bad its getting and how it's effecting the way she walks and I can't imagine having to live life with that thing on me in that particular place.  It needs to go- and soon.  We have an appointment on Tuesday with another dermatologist (yes, we are getting a second opinion on the wart monster) and we will see what he says.  The first doctor wanted to dig it out again and offered little else as an option.  I really don't want to do that because it's traumatic, it already didn't work, so might not again, and it is on such a used part of her foot that I think it would hurt a lot while healing.  So, now you know.

• And now that I've written a few paragraphs about Ellery's wart, I'm not gonna feel ashamed because I already declared my obsession.  So we're good.  Good.

• Well, how do you follow that?  We are dog sitting again.  I must admit, we didn't have much time to miss him- since we just did this in December.  But Ollie is back.  The kids are happy about this.  

• While the boys were gone, the girls and I decided to go through their clothes- a chore I dread.  But we did it.  I had piles all over the room- Ellery too small, Layla too small, ugly, Spring, etc...  Now Layla normally changes her clothes about three or four times a day- she just loves to put an outfit together, and, well, all these clothes just about blew her mind.  She changed twelve times- I counted- and that saddest thing was she'd see something she'd never seen before, fall in love with it and start putting it on- declaring her adoration and plans for the outfit- then, most often before she was even finished dressing in her new treasure, she would see me throw something else on a pile and abandoned what she was doing and change course completely.  It was exhausting and incredible to watch.  She finally settled on tights and a new-to-her purple shirt, once all the piles had been put away.

 One of the many costume changes any old day could bring.

• We also did a lot of drawing, coloring and stickering.

• Its our second week at eleven o'clock church and today I really loved it.  We made blueberry muffins from scratch, made a welcome home sign for the boys and the girls took a bath.  It's just the right amount of time before church where you're not rushed, but the day is not wasted.  We all know this though.  

• Today in young women's we talked about feeling Heavenly Father's love.  I didn't teach, but as I sat and listened to those twelve and thirteen year old girls share when they have felt that love, I thought about my own kids and how they really are on a personal journey here on earth and I can't feel those feelings for them.  I can't make them have those experiences.  I know there is a lot I can do to help, but really it is a purely personal thing to start and strengthen a relationship with our Heavenly Father  and to gain and build a testimony.  I got excited thinking about how they will be able to do that on their own.  And it wouldn't be me if I didn't wonder and worry a bit about what I can do to help.  

• Sometimes I write this blog with the image of people...my children, really...reading it when I am gone, or old, or when they are going through this same stage of life, and that is a lot of why I want to make sure and record how I feel about many things.  I hope that they will especially be able to know my testimony through these words.  It's not written out in a beautiful, long, organized format...but I hope that they can see who I am through these bits and pieces.  I surely want them to know that I have a relationship with my Heavenly Father and that I have felt His love for me many, many times in my life, and that I continue to be amazed at that love and the patience He shows me time and time again.  Oh the patience.  I really am learning how frustrating I must be.  

• In other news, Ellery has learned to do a backbend with her nose touching the ground.

• And last, a couple of things that happened last week, or the week before...not sure, really.

• We went to a BYU basketball game on the last Saturday of Christmas break.  By the time Christmas break was over Brian and I were exhausted from hearing, "What's the plan for tonight?" so often- they literally began to expect something grand and wonderful during each morning, afternoon and evening...at least it felt like it at times.  The word entitled started to mean something more to me than ever before and it did not feel good.  But even though we were so ready to settle back down into routine life, we decided we could end on one last high note.

• You can tell that I am really just trying to get this done because now this picture is up here and I am looking at Layla's face and I'm just gonna leave it right here.  You're welcome.

•  Layla wasn't a huge fan of watching the game- but she did enjoy getting cougar tails with me in the hall, stopping in the restroom a couple times, giving hand massages to us with lotion and brushing my hair for quite a long time.  The other kids had fun- Mack of course loving it most of all.
• We also went sledding on New Years Day and here is a picture of that.  We went to Tibble Fork and it was cold, but fun.  Also, I learned/accepted that I am really bad at sledding.  It's scary.

Happy Sunday!