While We're On the Subject

As long as we are on the subjects of hair cuts, I feel I need to walk you through the progression of Romney's hair cuts. That girl needs to stay away from the internet and all of its enticing photos of cute haircuts. Romney can't resist them.

It was not that long ago that Romney had hair down to her waist. I get why she cut it. It was a pain to take care of. She got it cut up around her shoulders and looked beautiful. 

But in December, she found out that a friend of hers has experience cutting hair. She decided that what she really wanted most was to get curtain bangs. We could not talk her out of it, and one evening three cute girls came to our house to visit Romney. One girl was there to do the trimming and two girls were there to talk about it and laugh a lot. 

 

Then in the springtime she saw all these photos of sort of shaggy short cuts. Of course, they always looked perfect on the models who were showing them off, but I had my doubts about how it would go for Romney, especially since she doesn't have a her own hairdresser waiting to make everything all better at any given moment. But I confess, she looked pretty cute.

But she wasn't done yet! It wasn't super long before she started showing me more internet photos of perfect haircuts on perfect French women and telling me how much she wanted it. It was a cute cut - like a poofy French bob with lots of movement and swing. I sighed and said ok. We went and gather hair cut, even shorter this time. And once again...it's pretty cute. 

So I guess I just let her do whatever with her hair. I feel a lot better about that on the days she tells me she wants to grow out her hair. I feel less good about that when she talks about shaving her head.

Called to Serve

 On Tuesday, June 14th, Chase came to me and said, "Mom, my mission call is here." 

Heart freezes. Breath stops. 

What the heck, are you sure?

Yes, Chase's mission call came just two weeks after his mission papers were resubmitted. He knew because suddenly his online missionary account was activated, and I guess that's the sign that your call has arrived and is ready to open. I don't know how he got himself to wait the whole day before opening it and finding out where he would be serving. I myself went into some sort of adrenaline charged cleaning mode and had a hard time breathing all day.

That evening around 6:30 friends and family gathered. Sam and Noah were there, as well as Troy's mom. Our bishop and his family were there, and a group of friends who came up from Provo. We also started a zoom call where my siblings called in, along with many many friends.

Chase stood before us on the back porch and opened his email where he read:

Dear Elder Preslar:

June 14, 2022

You are hereby called to serve as a missionary of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

You have been recommended as one worthy to represent the Lord as a minister of the restored gospel of Jesus Christ. You will be an official representative of the Church. As such, you will be expected to maintain the highest standards of conduct and appearance, keep the commandments, and follow the counsel of your mission president. As you devote your time and attention to serving the Lord, leaving behind all other personal affairs, the Lord will bless you with increased knowledge and testimony of Jesus Christ and His restored gospel.

Your purpose will be to invite others to come unto Christ by helping them receive the restored gospel through faith in Jesus Christ and His Atonement, repentance, baptism, receiving the gift of the Holy Ghost, and enduring to the end. As you serve with all your heart, might, mind, and strength, the Lord will lead you to those who will hear His message.

You are assigned to labor in the Washington Spokane Mission and will prepare to preach the gospel in the English language. You will begin your missionary training on Monday, September 19, 2022, after being set apart by your stake president. Please see the Missionary Portal for additional information on your training experience. It is anticipated that you will serve for a period of 24 months.

Our Heavenly Father will reward you for the goodness of your life. Greater blessings and more joy than you have yet experienced await you as you humbly and prayerfully serve the Lord in this labor of love among His children. We place our confidence in you and pray that the Lord will help you become an effective missionary.

Sincerely,

Russel M. Nelson

President

Holy Smokes. At first I know I was a little sad he wasn't going to a foreign mission. But the longer time goes on the better I feel about this mission. I know it's the place where Chase is supposed to serve. I spent some time with some missionaries in my very own neighborhood and it was a power experience. I feel like Chase will have stronger experiences than I did on my mission because the language won't be a barrier. I have heard over and over how wonderful this mission is. I'm incredibly grateful for his willingness and desire to serve, and for this call that came to him.

Sampson Loses His Locks

Had the pandemic never happened, we would never have known that Chase has magical hair that grows into full-on ringlets. We just never would have known that. But it did happen and Chase's hair did become quite the thing. He got a lot of attention for it - we almost wondered if he would struggle to serve a mission because he'd have to cut it. In fact, when he was first wanting to submit his mission papers last fall he really did not want to cut his hair at all, and just pulled it back into a pony for the submission photo. But we spent the spring being in communication with our new stake president who happens to be a dear friend of ours. He really got the ball rolling and told Chase he could submit his papers again in early June, but that he'd need a haircut. Without hesitation, only nervous is-this-really-happening excitement, we scheduled an appointment. But first came some photos to capture the memory of those ringlets. 

 

  

  

We picked a barbershop down town where they not only cut your hair but serve up root beers and cream sodas. I sat, sipping, watching in shock as a huge mass of hair piled up on the floor and Chase was transformed into someone resembling a missionary. 

Check him out! He's so handsome.

It was a little sad actually but also just so exciting and refreshing. Chase felt great, and was maybe even a little relieved. Curl care is a pain in the rump. 

We went home, tried out some missionary photos, had him shave, and tried again. What a crazy change and what an exciting time! The Stake President resubmitted his missionary papers that very day.

Gulp. 

May I again say how very proud of Chase we are. He grew a lot over the months that he had to wait. He's so fun and pleasant to be around, and I'm so excited about the adventures that are ahead for him.

Emma, the new and true teenager

I don't get the math but it seems to happen regularly that the last day of school lands on Emma's birthday. However, the 7th graders get out a day before the 8th graders in order to celebrate their completion of middle school. So really Emma did not have school on her birthday. And Romney was beyond done, (see previous post), so the three of us spent the morning together doing fun stuff for the newest teenager in the house.

Of course first of all was breakfast (scones) and presents (I can't remember. I will have to ask her what she got.)

Oh yeah! She got headphones, a personalized stamp for books and a set of the 2nd Percy Jackson book series. Good stuff!

Then the girls and I went to a new fun place in the city called Space Tea which does boba teas and drinks and lemonades and stuff. Really fun spot. I got a brown sugar boba milk. You would not think that sounded good at all but it was delicious and highly sugary.

Next came a little shopping. Emma is growing like crazy right now. Poor Romney seems to have stopped growing but Emma has grown like four inches in a year or something. So we took her to the City Creek Mall and found a couple of cute things.

As far as the evening activities went, Emma had them all planned out and took care of it. She just needed a chauffeur. And a credit card. She has a group of friends at school, most of whom I don't know at all. She invited them over for dinner and games. It was kind of hilarious - I didn't do any of the communicating about this party at all. And the parents of the party guests were for sure wondering who this person was and if their kid would actually be safe with them. One dad poked his head in the door to say hello and meet me and it turned out to be a guy I went to high school and Theater School for Youth with - we both kind of yelled and then hugged a lot. He said he guessed he felt pretty safe having the party at my house.

It was really just three kids plus Emma. We piled in the mini van and drove off to Milcreek for a Thirst run and to pick up Emma's favorite food: Cupbop. 

I love driving groups of excited kids around

We went to a nearby park to eat and talk and I tried to stay invisible but did not do a great job. It's hard for me not to insert myself into conversations, even among 13 year olds. 

After eating at the park we went back to our house for games. The kids played JackBox for a while but wound up filming some very enthusiastic improvised movies. I have not seen these movies yet, apparently they are still in the editing room.

It was a grand birthday for Emma. I'm so pleased that she has made friends in the challenging realm of middle school. Yay Emma! We love you!

Here's the one friend I did know - a friend since before kindergarten!

The Year Winds Down

Finally school started to come to a close. May was a jumble of little things - I just decided to scroll through my photos and pick out things to remember.

My wild flowers have had their second year of blooming in front of the house without being replanted. I don't know what to do with that space. All through April, May and June I love love love them. Cornflowers, flax, poppies - wonderful wild flowers. But then in July they totally croak and look like the most horrible gangly weeds. I pull them all out, shake them over the dirt hoping to get them to re-seed, and then we have just dirt there for the rest of the year. Tell me if you have any better ideas of what to do. 

My birthday was fun - this was not The Big Birthday year for me - that will be next year. I always enjoy just choosing things to do that I know will make me happy. I got a pedicure. I met up with The Becky for lunch, and amazingly, we did not get ramen. There's a ramen little shop close to my house that we go to regularly. But somehow hot soup didn't sound that good on that warm sunny day. (We have had it since then though, right smack dab in the middle of the hottest July SLC has ever known, so don't ask me how that works.) We went to a little spot in her neighborhood, and then went for drinks. I got a massive Diet Coke with lime and grapefruit, my favorite. She got sparkling water. Becky and I are alike in so many ways. And different in so many others. Then I wanted to go buy some new tennis shoes an outlet in Lehi and I convinced Becky to come with me. It was so fun to have her come along for the ride. I got my new Altras and also I was very spoiled and got these beautiful Dansko sandals that I have been ogling for a long time. I love them.

That night Troy and I got some dinner before going to Romney's final madrigals performance of the year. It was held in the chapel of a beautiful old presbyterian church. We learned there in the hallway what "pardon my French" really means as an actually-French student arrived for the concert in the middle of the first number and let fly with a mighty curse word and then excused herself. Troy and I laughed about that for a long time. We were a little late ourselves and slipped into a pew to enjoy the heavenly sounds of the singing. They sang beautifully. And the kid who fainted due to locked-knees and was of course standing on the back row managed to time his faint absolutely perfectly with the end of a piece. 

What a night. 

 This is just a tiny clip but you get the idea

Oh also someone dropped off flowers for me but I don't know who. That made me feel good. I still have the tag on my fridge. What a nice gesture of kindness. And also I got a LOT of cookies. Both of my brothers, unbeknownst to the other, ordered Crumbl cookies for me and had them delivered. One even sent ice cream. It was a LOT of cookies. Apparently that's my love language. Cookies. 

Emma got ready for the last day of her 7th grade year by making this dress. I love that she still enjoys her sewing class. Her teacher is the most wonderful woman on the planet and I'm thinking she could maybe adopt me. I was so proud of Emma! She did a great job on this dress. It's very neat and tidy and she has come so far in her skills. 

 

There were some less pleasant events as well, especially one bad situation with Romney and a certain crazy Spanish teacher. I'm debating on whether or not to include the photo Romney took of herself in the bathroom at school when she was a hot mess of tears. It ended up working out - not with the best grade ever, but not the worst, and a few emails to administration. That was memorable. 

K I'm including the photo. Sorry Romney. 

Oh she's so cute. That was a hard day.

Let's see, let's see. What else? Our chickens are thriving - we have really let them just roam free all over the yard from morning until night and I guess we are just rolling the dice with the daytime predators. Currently we have the following chickens:

Sissy, Doris, Judy, Mean Francine (aka Frannie), Honey Dumbas, Friar Tuck, Chrissy and Keister Marie. (Ok, that was true in May and June. In July Doris succumbed to some unknown ailment and died. I'm sad that we no longer have the granny twins of Doris and Judy. Judy will have to just keep going on her own.)

Sometimes though one of them kind of underachieves when it comes to egg laying:

We got new garbage cans. I thought it was about time after like 17 years or something. Romney promptly took charge and created labels for them:

Oh my kids. I love them.

So that's all the little flotsam and jetsam of the end of the year. It was a good one, a tough one, and we were excited for the summer. 

Matthew Turns 15

As if it wasn't hard enough to try to picture what our Matthew would have looked like as a little baby, or toddler or even a kindergartener, it's now ever harder to try to imagine him as a 15 year old. He's such a sweet part of our lives that I just mostly imagine him as being a gentle, kind and thoughtful 15 year old. Who is tall. With dark curly hair. But that could be totally wrong. It's ok. It doesn't even matter. I just love him, and love thinking about him. 

We changed up our plans a little bit this year. With all of the other activity going on, Chase working, Romney constantly at school, we did not have a lot of time to go get a picnic and pick out balloons, drive up to our little Matthew park and hang out for the evening. But of course we really wanted to keep the day as our special family holiday. I really like what we came up with. 

This time we stayed home. We of course picked out good food to enjoy, but we stayed home and ate it on the back porch. Then we lit our little campfire and gathered in a circle around it. Any time our family has the time and frankly the patience to just be together, to talk and laugh, it is so joyful for me. And that is the blessing that losing Matthew has brought to our family. He has given us a time and a reason to stick together, to be extra loving, to look ahead to the day when we don't have to imagine his face any more. I feel strongly that he spends as much time with us as we need him to. 

Instead of sending balloons off into the atmosphere with our notes dangling from their strings, we wrote our notes and then tossed them into the propane-fueled flames of the campfire. I was thinking it might be a little anticlimactic but it wasn't at all. It felt tender and thoughtful. And meditative. 

Of course we did finish the night with a box full of treats from Gourmandise Bakery. That's become our go-to. No more hit-or-miss mom cakes.

Matthew, I was wish you were here to be getting your learner's permit right now, and be getting ready for your sophomore year of high school. I wish you were here to bug your brother and share his room. You'd be taller than me by now, if you're anything like Chase. You'd probably be grumpy. But I still wish you were here. We know, however, that you are never far away, and are a part of our family forever.