Not Over it Yet

I have been attending the zoo regularly for almost 12 years now, and irregularly for almost 20 years before that.  How am I not sick of this place?  I still just love going.  Admittedly, I probably wouldn't go quite as often as I do if I didn't have my dear Sis-in-Law Sheri who is a true super-fan, but I would definitely still go.  I'm grateful that she passes along some of her enthusiasm to me.  And especially exciting this month is the new African Savannah exhibit that is opening up.  The first section to be open is the new lion enclosure and I will tell you, it is something else.  The architects really came up with a neat way to showcase these amazing predators.  I can't wait for the rest of the new exhibit to open!

Last night the zoo had a members-only Sunset Safari when the zoo was open until 9p.m.  We basically blew off homework and practicing in order to have a family outing on a perfectly beautiful spring evening.  So lovely.  I adore the evenings that our family gets to spend together, just us.  And a few lions.

You know that thing about how a picture is worth a thousand words?  Well, this is a pretty good case in point.  How about 20 pictures are worth a short story about a family's perfect evening at the zoo?

We had to have a little talk about "it's not a good idea to lick the carousel." 

Happiest Day of Mothers

I don't think I often blog about Mother's Day.  It's not a huge deal at our house, and we rarely have any events of significance to mention.  But this year was just a great Mother's Day and I don't want to forget about it.  I thought it was wonderful.

First of all I have to show off the gift I got from the kids...really from the Primary in our ward.  Oh yeah, I serve in the primary, and I was in on the planning so I guess it was a gift from myself.  That's okay, I love it and it turned out much cuter than I expected. This is the opposite result of most crafty things I start so it's worth documenting.

Okay, in the picture it doesn't look that great.  But I just love looking at those smily little faces.  Smiling, not-fighting, not-complaining-about-homework faces.  So happy.

So that was one part of my great Mother's Day.  Another great part was that in the middle of the afternoon I got to do my favorite thing which is to take a long hot bathe with a book and an icy diet coke by my side.  Thank you Troy, that's all the gift I ask for.  Oh yes, and a great massage from the kids.  It was better than you would have expected.

Those things were really great but there is no denying what the very best part of all was, and that was church.  We had the most amazing sacrament meeting.  This is not usually what I say after a Mother's Day meeting.  Usually Mother's Day church involves singing the hymns:

"Home Can Be a Heaven on Earth"....but only if you're a really good mom otherwise everyone is going to be fighting all the time...

and

"There is Beauty All Around"....but only if you're a perfect mother otherwise it's all dirty laundry and piles of dishes....

Extended titles added by me.  Any questions on how I really feel about those two hymns?

We didn't sing either of those Mother's Day classics and I couldn't be more happy about that.  But in all seriousness, we had two of the best talks I have ever heard.  We heard first from a newly married gal who gave a nice talk.  Then a young teenager sang a song and finally spilled the secret that she has the voice of an absolute angel.  So beautiful - a sweet soaring soprano that just gives you chills.  But then we heard from two young fathers who both spoke very candidly about some very tough experiences.  Both are dear friends and I was very touched by their willingness to openly share what Mother's Day really means to them.  First was a man whose mother passed away within days of giving birth to him and his twin brother.  His father shortly thereafter married a woman with four children, making their combined number of children 10.  Then they had five more.  Lotta kids.  And  a lot of hard times to go with this complicated group.  He talked about how he came to love, forgive and fully embrace his step mother as his own mother.  It was very touching, especially to see this normally very stoic and reserved person share his feelings and emotions.  It was profound to hear a talk on the subject of loving and forgiving your imperfect mother on a day normally reserved for touting her perfection.

The next speaker is another dear friend who's first wife, one of the best friends I have ever had, passed away three years ago after battling breast cancer.  He is now remarried to a darling sweet woman whom I also love dearly. There really aren't adequate words to convey his message.  Hearing what he had to say about the women in his life was very tender and brought a different feeling to our meeting.  I'm so grateful these men had the courage to speak honestly about their experiences.  My thoughts and spirits were so lifted and I thank them for that.

I know that's not an especially exciting thing for anyone else to read about but I just didn't want to forget the experience I had this fine Mother's Day.

Here is one of my favorite pictures of my mom:

She was holding baby Bitty, so this was a long time ago.  I like to think of her this way with those bright sharp eyes.  Sending love.

Our Annual Matthew Day

I never thought this day would come to mean what it does to me.  I mean, I always knew May 5th would be special for the rest of my life - it's the day our stillborn baby Matthew was delivered.  Of course it would be an anniversary forever.  But I didn't realize just how much I would come to love and appreciate this day over the seven years that have passed.  What has happened is that our family takes this special day and uses it to celebrate us, The Preslars.  It's a holiday for just us and it affects the kids immensely.  They can feel what it means to be a family, and they are able to put aside the day-to-day squabbles between siblings, at least for the most part.  They are sweeter to each other, kinder to each other, they sacrifice their own wants for each other.   Every May 5th we have a family outing where we do little else besides enjoy being together.  Last night at our favorite quiet park as we ate cake and played ball and sent messages to Matthew on our balloons, I realized how much I hope that our children continue celebrating May 5th for the rest of their lives, with their own families some day.  Take this one day to set aside other cares and plans and just go be together.  Of course I hope that families get many chances to do this throughout the year with vacations and outings and game nights, but to take a day and specifically have a celebration of your own family holiday is something different.

Matthew, thank you for bringing us faith, for bringing us light and an extra measure of appreciation for having our family.  We love you.  Troy and I talk about you often, making guesses as to what you'd be up to these days besides getting ready to finish 1st grade.  We wish you were here, especially for our Stomper boy who longs for his brother.  Your sisters love you so much too.  You bring us closer to heaven.

Who doesn't love Korean Kim-Bap for dinner?  No need for forks or plates or side dishes or anything!

Much Frolicking:

Much Snuggling (it got cold!):

Writing Notes:

Sending them to the sky:

Eating Blue Birthday Cake:
(Stomper's contribution: it had to be lemon flavored.  Bitty's contribution: it had to have strawberries. Bundle's contribution: it had to have an unappetizing color to the frosting; in this case, blue.  There were lots more strawberries than this, but were spooned on top after serving.

We always get an extra balloon or two for some helium-sucking fun:

Want to Know Why I'm a Crazy Lady?

The reasons are many, I can promise you that.  I guess I should have asked if you'd like to know ONE of the reasons I'm a crazy lady.  So many facets of motherhood bring out my crazy it's hard to differentiate, but this little battle I fight with myself and my kids on a constant basis can blamed for a good 25% of my issues.  Let me demonstrate with a few photos.

Exhibit A:  This is a science project made by Bitty.  She is very proud of her work. I can't remember what it was supposed to do or its general purpose at all.  It is hanging out around my house, to be found in such places as under stairs, on beds, in the middle of the kitchen floor, between towels; basically part of the basic household flotsam and jetsam.  It drives me nuts.  It's ugly.  (I can only type that because my own children do not read this blog, and I don't think I will ever let them.)  But do you know what happens if I try to get rid of it?  Most parents can attest to the fact that fury accompanied by bouts of sobbing ensue.  And I always wonder....has she forgotten about it yet?  Can I throw it away...now?  No?  How about tomorrow?  No...okay. I'll just keep tripping on it.

Exhibit B:  You can't tell from this picture but this doll is as large as my 5 year old daughter.  It arrived in our family one Christmas when I made the horrible mistake of letting the kids choose Christmas gifts for one another.  I was trying to fill them with the Christmas spirit and somehow didn't have the heart to tell my son this thing was ugly and overwhelming when he approached me with excitement and the desire to give something to his sister he was sure she'd adore.  It only took one afternoon of playing with it before seams began to split everywhere in a rather gruesome way - the neck was the first to go, followed by what appeared to be her lymph nodes spilling out from her armpits.  I tried to fix it, but despite dutifully getting out needle and thread on an almost daily basis I couldn't help but wonder if it wouldn't be kinder to put the dolly out of her misery.  This one I finally did file away in the large green can on our back porch and it was literally last week that my daughter approached me in search of her giant purple ballerina doll.  Sorry honey....I'm not sure where it is right now....I'll keep an eye out....(waves of guilt washing over)

Exhibit C:  The countless countless school projects.  Some of them are tossers, day 1, no problem.  But some of them they really worked hard on and are excited to show my and display in their rooms. For months.  Until they are covered in dust and haven't been looked at.  But it just feels disrespectful to toss it.  Sure, I'll take a picture and store it in my computer, but wouldn't it be fun to save a precious few things in a keepsake box? How big should this keepsake box be?

Exhibit C:  How many stuffed animals can a child fit onto one bed?  Or into a tiny house, for that matter?  Our home is absolutely running over with these stuffed animals.  The surface area of each child-sized bed in our home has been reduced by at least 25% due to the squatters found there.   And each child very specifically knows which animals belong to them, which animals are permanent residents on their beds, and feels keenly the absence of any one of them.

Now, I have to confess to having some sympathy here.  I grew up as a serious stuffed animal lover and I, like my children, had names for each of them and an absolute knowledge of where they had come from and how they came to be a part of my world.  Even now, when I have cleaning time all alone at home and I think to myself, "Ah HA!  I'm going to go sift through the dang stuffed animals and at least get rid of the ones they don't like anymore!"  No such thing.  Even if there is a toy that doesn't get played with regularly I myself remember that this Tinkerbell Doll came from our first Disney trip, or that little dinosaur was a gift from a dear neighbor, or whatever.  I can't let go of them myself!  That doesn't stop me from going through them, arguing silently (or sometimes out loud, which is a really bad sign) with myself about each toy.  Should we keep this one?  They love it!  But it takes up space and has been sitting at the bottom of the toy chest for a year.  They'll totally notice its absence the first day I send it off to the D.I.  No, they probably won't.  I don't know.....  And thus three hours go by and nothing has been accomplished except more advancement in my condition known as CRAZY.

The End of An Era(s)

Wow, what a weekend.  It was truly epic, in its own way, in a completely different way from the St. George type of epic I posted about last.  We hit some huge milestones that, frankly, didn't feel like they would EVER COME.  EVER.

First of all, and I have to try to do this without embarrassing my daughters, I hit the milestone of once and for all discontinuing the placing of pull-ups on my shopping list.  That is one grocery item I am so excited to cross off forevermore.  Sparing the details, nighttime dryness has not come as easily to my daughters as it does for most kids.  Bitty conquered it first and Bundle rode the wave, so to speak, and after going almost completely dry in her pull-up for a while, I thought it was time to rip off the bandaid.  She was nervous, so we picked out a prize and set a goal of seven dry nights.  Turns out that Bundle is very good at keeping track of the number of days passing by.  Every morning all week long as she awoke to dry undies (I guess I can't avoid getting into unpleasant parenting details here) she would let me know how many dry nights she had under her belt and how many more she had to go.  The best was Sunday morning, after her seventh night.  I woke early and tiptoed down the stairs and past my deeply snoozing daughters.  Not five minutes later I heard a loud crow of triumph, as if she had been awake for hours, "I DID IT!!!!"  So cute.  Here she is with her glowing smile and trophy "Ever After High" dolly she's been yearning for.  Her happiness can be matched only by my own.  I just never thought we would get out of those pull-ups.

And....speaking of the sudden appearance of Sunday-morning happiness....Troy got released from the bishopric today.  Talk about a happy smile.  That sounds bad - Troy had many many good experiences serving as the 1st counselor to our bishop for five years.  But it's just that it's been FIVE YEARS.  And it's been a lot of time and emotional effort.  I'm so grateful for the many dear friends Troy has come to know through this experience.  It just absolutely blows my mind to think that the night Troy was asked to fill this calling I was still pregnant with Bundle and now she is registered for kindergarten.  How can five years have actually passed?  Again, there were many times when I didn't think they actually would. But they did.  And Troy is so excited for next Sunday when he has no 7:00 a.m. meeting and can just go to church when the rest of us do.  Here's what he looks like now:

FREEDOM!!!!!

By the way, I do have to send out a great big THANK YOU to the many many friends and neighbors who helped me get through the past five years.  I sat in Sacrament Meeting by myself for those five years, I had a baby with me, I couldn't have done it without people who love me, my husband and my children enough to let my kids come sit with them or come sit with me themselves while I had a fussy Bundle or whatever.  I love my neighbors dearly.  A couple of weeks ago I snuck a snapshot before the meeting started of Bundle sitting on the lap of her favorite church buddy Adam.  He is the sweetest man and Bundle still prefers to spend church with him rather than me.  All my thanks.

Epic Trip to St. George

As you know, our family really loves driving to St. George and spending weekends with my brother and his family.  The weather is always nicer, (unless we go in July, which we never seem to do), we get to sprawl in the sun and chill out and have movie nights and just relax.  That was true, that is, until we decided to go down to help Sheri celebrate her 30th birthday.  Now we know that there may be times when a trip to St. George will kick all of our bums and include exactly 0 movie nights.  (Well, for the kids.  The grown ups did actually watch The Secret Life of Walter Mitty but we had to break it up over two nights because we were too tired from accompanying Sheri on her adventures to stay awake for a whole movie.)

Sheri, may you never turn 30 again.  We are too tired and lazy to do that with you ever again.

Just kidding!  It was actually one of the most fun trips we have ever had.  Not that I don't want to relax ever again over one of these weekends, but it really was a blast and I loved being so active with the kids.  

Let's see, the itinerary.  What did we do?  We started by arriving in Dixie at 2:00, and were all changed into swim suits and into a pool by 3:00.  (Sheri scored some serious deals for us - free trip to the Washington City Pool, free burgers at In-N-Out, deals on Zion restaurants....it was awesome!)  So yes, we started the first day at a really fun community center pool and grabbed burgers on the way home.  As we were waiting in the drive-through line I got a text from my dear old Next Door Neighbor of Yesteryear, The Other Troy, who noticed from my silly posts on Instagram that we were in St. George.  He let me know that he too was in St. George with his family on an extensive tour of Utah.  (They arrived in St. George from Seattle via Moab.  Woah.)  So after swimming and dinner and a walk to the park, My Troy and I took kids over to the condo where they were staying and we just chatted away on the balcony overlooking the beautiful city at night while the kids got to know each other and drew together.  So heavenly.  I wish we saw them more often. Next Door Neighbors forever!

Friday was Sheri's big day, and what a big day it was!  Especially for HER!  She had to get up and teach one of her gym classes (thankfully she didn't make me go with her....) at like 4:40 in the morning.  Happily for her, she got visited in the night by friends and family who left chalk messages on the driveway and heart-notes stuck in the lawn and a big cooler full of water balloons with a message indicating that there would be a water-fight at some point during the day. That's what she woke up to. So sweet.  But before any water fights could take place, Sheri first wanted to celebrate her birthday by getting us all into Zion National Park and up a really really big rock.  After her class she hurried home to help us dress kids, fill water bottles and tie shoes so we could get out the door by 7:30 and drive to Zion.  What a lovely place - been too long since I have been there.  I don't think I've been since I have had kids.  

Sheri's big plan for the day was Angel's Landing.  If you don't know what this is, look it up.  It's about a 2 mile hike up to a place called Scout's Lookout, where normal people stop and watch all the nutty people venture out another 1/2 mile out onto this rock with 1,000 foot drops on either side.  I didn't think I wanted to do it - I was imagining being out there with my kids and it made me nauseated just thinking about it.  Of course we didn't take all the little kids.  But....Sheri did go with Siena (who is SIX!!!) and my Stomper really wanted to go and I kind of did too after all so the four of us went.  There were a couple of spots where I almost turned around, mostly because it was too anxiety-provoking to watch my little son walking along just inches away from that deathly drop.  At one point in particular I almost began to cry and grab him and turn around. My heart was pounding like crazy.  But since Stomper insisted on going on and I wasn't going to leave Sheri with two kids I kept going.  I'm glad we did it.  Kind of like I'm glad I went through childbirth.  That was great!  So exhilarating!  Amazing!  And now can I never do that again, please?

Zion is beautiful and the day was well spent. One of my favorite moments was hiking down the last few meters of the trail and bumping into my PTA president from SLC - that was a fun surprise!  Not that it's THAT unlikely to run into a fellow Salt Laker in Zion National Park over spring break, but still, to be on the trail together was pretty funny.  We were both bummed later that we didn't take a selfie at the moment.   Once we dragged our tired children and our tired selves back to our cars, we were led by the birthday girl to a yummy little spot known as Oscar's.  Definitely going back there again.  Such a nice waiter, such good food.  Another burger, wonderful in its own way, and aptly named the Murder Burger.  So good.

Upon arriving home, the neighborly water-fight began and I took my place as the photographer. After that I hauled Sheri off for a birthday pedicure. (No, no, I didn't have ulterior motives, not at all!)  In the evening we ate ice cream bars and surprised Sheri with a gift she had no idea she was getting - Peter wanted to give her a Kitchen-Aid Mixer, and Sheri loves giving new life to 2nd-hand items, so Pete found this great mixer at a Pawn Shop in SLC (it was not a bad place at all.  I know.  I'm the one who picked it up.)  That was a fun surprise!

On Saturday the adventure continued but luckily it was all on Sheri - her family's gift to her was to go skydiving.  That is not something I have ever wanted to do before, but actually I think I'd be more comfortable doing that than taking my kids up Angel's Landing.  She looked like she had a great time and it was fun to watch her.

That day included more swimming and more walks/bike rides to the park and more trampoline jumping.  We also had the mandatory Easter-egg coloring session which my kids seemed more excited for than anything else that weekend.

Sunday morning had just enough time to enjoy Easter Baskets and hunt for eggs and treats in the back yard.

Phew.  I'm tired from writing this.  What a weekend!  Happy Birthday one more time to my sweet and dear sis-in-law Sheri.