Happy Places

Both of the big kids experienced some discoveries this summer.  I think discovery for one was more enjoyable than the discovery for the other, but in the end, both kids had incredible experiences.

I am pretty sure that I have mentioned before that Cap took a couple of sewing classes last summer. The first week of this summer he took a class during which he made this cool pull-over long sleeve hoodie thing that he wears every single day he can do so without melting. It's black, silver stripes down the arms, very cool.  He enjoyed it a lot, but didn't really seem super excited about registering for more classes.  I realized then that I should really get Bitty into a class - I just knew she'd love it.  And oh man was I right.  Bitty absolutely loved the class, the teacher, and everything she got to do.  Jane, her teacher, reported to me that Bitty was absolutely delightful in the class.  She had to stay extra long on a few days to finish her projects because apparently she's a very cautious and careful worker, but Jane couldn't be more happy about it.  

I was so thrilled to find a happy place for Bitty, whom I feel like I've been trying to pour happiness into and sometimes she seems to have a leak in her happy tank.  I know my tank gets leaky sometimes too. It can be tough, and could possibly use further attention.  But for now, to find a place and a woman so safe and happy for Bitty was really joyful, both for her and for me.  Here she is showing off some of her creations:

I'm so proud and happy for her, and just registered her for more classes this fall.  I can't wait to see the smile on her face and the new duds she'll be making.

Cap's learning experience was a little steeper and we kind of had to hype him up to get excited for it.  My sister, his cello teacher, hosts a summer camp for teens every summer.  She has these thick binders full of fun and fabulous music that get passed out around the end of school.  Frankly, both Cap and I felt a little intimidated, and spent a lot of time going over the music he'd be playing, but still feeling nervous and like he had a long way to go to be ready.  Camp started anyway.

Camp itself was really only three days long, taking up most of a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, with a performance Saturday night for the families to see and hear what music they had been working on.  I have to say, when Cap came home the first day and was totally pumped up and excited I was a little shocked.  He had been nervous at best and resistant at worst, and to see him get home and be excited to go back and proclaim that he never wanted to miss another cello camp ever was really fun and rewarding.  What a high.  When we went to see him on Friday evening I was moved by the amazing music.  Such a range - Bach, interesting modern pieces, other classical things I've never heard - it was wonderful.

One serendipitous moment from the evening happened when I connected with a woman who has a daughter who takes from Margaret.  This woman also grew up in Boulder Colorado, and was one of our family's favorite babysitters.  We adored her and her little sister.  Roxanne and her sister Allison were practically family members, and to get a chance to reconnect was delightful.

One last crowning event for the week was a repeat performance of the concert on Saturday morning at the Farmer's Market in downtown Salt Lake City.  Hard to believe that a pack of teenage cellists could draw much attention away from the hustle and noise of the crowded market, but we gathered a bit of a crowd.

I felt so proud of Cap for conquering his reluctance and enjoying the process playing cellos with other kids.  My sister is amazing.

The Golden 50, A Bittersweet Evening of Celebration

This summer marked a pretty big day for my parents.  On August the 6th, they reached their 50th wedding anniversary.

Way back in the springtime when the family was planning our big trip to San Diego there was some talk about possibly putting together a celebration for them at that time, despite the fact that it would be a few weeks early.  But then in May my mom's Alzheimer's Status took a dive. Since her functioning and awareness had decreased dramatically it seemed like a celebration in her honor would confuse her rather than delight her, especially since she would be in an unfamiliar and chaotic setting.  We let that thought go and just enjoyed being together there in the big blocky house by the sea, all together.

As the summer wore on we didn't think much about the upcoming anniversary, but when August finally rolled around I found myself pondering the 50 year marriage of my parents.  It seemed just as wrong to avoid the event as it did to place my mom in the center of a noisy party.  At first it seemed like my dad would be happier just letting it roll on by, but later, as the day drew nearer he began to agree that we needed to observe the day together in some way.  We decided to just meet quietly on our summery back porch and perhaps grill a few hamburgers.  Still seems kind of anticlimactic, don't you think?  I thought so too.  I looked more closely at the calendar and realized that the weekend surrounding the 6th wasn't a busy one, so I got on the phone with my brother Peter and encouraged him and his family to come up for the weekend. I was so happy when they agreed. Peter and Sheri actually share an anniversary with my parents, separated by exactly 40 years.  I found it very generous of them to join us for the weekend of their 10th anniversary.

Besides having Peter and Sheri, I also thought it would be nice to invite a few of my freinds over.  I know that might sound strange, for me to have my friends over for a celebration for my dad (and mom too, I know, but truly, this was all for my dad). But I'll say that I just so happen to be blessed with many many dear friends in my life - wonderful wonderful people everywhere I turn.  I consider that fact to be one of the great blessings of my life.  And a couple of families who live in the neighborhood here have spent some time with my parents before and my dad had an absolutely wonderful time getting to know them and spending time together.  So I thought he'd enjoy the attention of these fine people.  It turned into quite a lovely evening - we served tasty enchiladas with a full spread of Mexican food, almost more than you could fit on one’s plate. (Don't worry, I managed somehow to pile it all on.)  We had jazz music in the background and an ice bucket filled with tasty drinks.  My mom was pleasant and calm and I was grateful to all my friends who sat beside her for a while and did their best to talk with her.  I was happy to give my dad the gift of celebration, even though we did little but enjoy a summer meal together.

Witnessing my father’s care of my  mom as she has walked the downward staircase of Alzheimer’s has been an incredibly emotional experience.  One of the most tender things I have seen is how my mom, at least up until this point, has always found my dad to be her anchor, the center to her universe. As long as she has known where he was, she felt oriented.  Well, him and a lipstick.  For some reason, she just really feels better about life when there is a lipstick in her hand.  A good man and a good lipstick; all a woman needs I guess.  I know that sense of orbiting around him will most like decline and even disapprear at some point, but it’s been powerful to observe.

A Weekend in the Hills

I guess we're about up to a month since I posted anything.  I'm having trouble even typing because my fingers are so out of practice.  But since I have a list of about seven posts to write up I better warm up and get going.  Summer came, summer went, I survived with only minor emotional injuries, though I can't speak for the kids...now let's see if I can remember anything that happened well enough to actually write about it.

Event #1 for the records happened at the end of July - a weekend at a cabin in the hills of Utah county with a few very dear friends. There was only one sad thing about it.  My dear husband has been called away on business multiple times this summer, and at the last minute he was sent on another one, so he wasn't able to be there with us.  I missed him.  So did everyone else.  But the other families were really sweet with me and tried to help me out during my single-parent status over the weekend.

We had a lovely time together, mostly just hanging around the cabin doing things like hammering metal discs into jewelry-type things, learning how to knit slippers, playing board games and card games, eating too many peanut m&m's, and covering our arms and legs in henna tattoos. The kids decorated t shirts with fabric markers and by stamping them with painted leaves. We watched hummingbirds swarming our sugar feeder, we made messes as we roasted marshmallows, and my friend Elyse brought a play parachute the kids loved and it turns out they knew all the same games I played as a kid.  Parachute day was the best day of the school year, if you ask me.

We also spent one day back down in the big city of Springville where we popped into a museum to see a quilt show, one of which was made by my friend and hostess of the weekend, Becca.  We also stopped at a small little reservoir that had recently been installed at the mouth of the canyon for I think recreational purposes - it was like going to the beach at a very cold lake.

Apple Camp

Oh Apple, I love you.  Why?  FREE CAMP!  That's why!

Every summer the Apple Stores host a series of mini camps for kids - they're really just three days, an hour and half each time, and the parent has to stay.  That's ok!  It is a great summer activity, and actually kind of hard to get into since the classes fill up within a couple of hours of them being posted on the site.

The camp is fabulous not only because it's free, and the kids get free booty like a pair of ear-buds (yes, awesome, right?) and a free thumb drive, but because it's a class about how to use the Garage Band and iMovie apps and setting the kids free to make movies of their own.  It really encourages creativity and exploration.

Day one involved, first of all, some very cute counselors who were great at getting the kids involved and energized.  Bitty especially enjoyed "The Banana Song." (See video below.)  Cap was slightly more reserved and reluctant but did participate minimally, which was all I ask of him when it comes to singing obnoxious camp songs.  Then the kids learned about story boarding, and spent some time thinking of a story line they could make into a movie.  Then they got a basic lesson in Garage Band and composed some pieces of music to use as a soundtrack.

That afternoon we were sent home with instructions to film a movie.  Here's where I need to totally come clean.  I really did my best to let the kids drive the bus but I'm not going to lie - I probably helped out more than I should have.  I promise though, I really truly tried to follow my kids' lead and help make their ideas come to life.  I probably should have just walked away and left it entirely up to them but.....I totally didn't.  We had a great afternoon filming movies.  We had the help of some friends of Bitty and Cap who were very good sports. We thoroughly enjoyed ourselves.  So I guess that can't be a bad thing, right?

Day two we brought in our footage and the kids learned how to use iMovie to edit their movie clips, add music and sound, transitions and titles.  Bitty and I worked on it together quite closely and Cap was completely on his own.  He put together a really fun little movie.

Friday was our viewing party where we got to enjoy all the kids' movies.  I think the kids really felt a sense of accomplishment and I'm hoping I can encourage them to do that again as an activity at home with friends rather than just sitting around vegging out.

Stephen, Ofa, Daniel and Rae

And here are the final projects!

Teeth: Lost, not yet Found

Skippidy has been spitting out teeth at a fairly steady rate these past couple of months.  It's been impressive.  So far she's lost four and has not yet shown any sign of growing replacements, so at the moment she's just got a gaping hole in her mouth.  It's perfectly suited for slipping in a straw.  Her lisp has become rather pronounced.  In fact, her speech has been affected enough that she kind of seems like a different kid to me.  She's taller, her hair is longer, she's missing teeth, she's a little thinner.... Skippidy seems to not be my baby anymore.  That doesn't mean I'm never allowed to rock her to sleep. At least, it'd better not mean that, because sometimes I still do.

Funny side note - Skippidy lost this most recent tooth on Sunday afternoon, with much exclaiming, a few tears and actually quite a lot of blood, resulting from her attempt to extract the tooth via apple-biting. It was a big deal.  That night we got her all tucked into bed with her tooth carefully hidden under her pillow.  I then moved on to work on her big sister.  Bitty finally got all tucked in as well, which always seems to take extra time.  Finally I headed off to the kitchen to start on the dishes.  I heard a big sneeze come from the girls' room, and shortly after Bitty came tiptoeing out.  Little did I know, she had a loose tooth too, and her big sneeze was enough to knock the tooth clean out of her mouth.  She handed me my second bloody tooth of the day, much to my astonishment.  Good thing the tooth fairy keeps an extra stock of golden dollars on hand for just such a situation.  It was tooth-losing day, I guess.  I didn't take a photo.  I was too tired!  Sorry, Bitty!

Spontaneous Vacation

My sweet husband has spent a LOT of time on the road this summer.  He had two weeks away which were both vacations, planned months ago.  One of course was the week we spent in San Diego.  He also spent a week with Cap in Yellowstone - his assignment is to do the blogging on that one.  I'm excited for Troy to write his first ever blog post.  But the week before he went to Yellowstone, he got a last minute assignment from his company to go to Virginia.  So the week before he went on a major canoe trip he was across the country for six days.  He had less than 24 hours to prepare for a week in the woods.  It was a hectic 24 hours, trust me.  Now he's been home from that for a few days and low and behold....work is sending him back to Virginia next week.  Poor guy, his poor kids and....poor me!  We miss each other being apart this much!

During the week Cap and Troy were away on their adventure, I was feeling like I needed a little something to break up the week without the boys, since we had already had so many days without daddy.  I looked at our calendar and realized that we had just enough time to squeeze in a quick trip to St. George for a girls-only trip.  I'm so glad we went.  Yes, sometimes I'm hesitant to visit St. George in the dead of summer, but we had such a good time.

We took off on Monday evening after a full day of running errands and spending some time with my mom. We arrived late in the evening, but not so late that my nieces were already asleep.  They were in bed, but not asleep, and best of all, they were totally not expecting us.  Peter and Sheri were sneaky and didn't tell them we were coming - it was so fun to tip toe in there and surprise them. I wish I had filmed their faces as they lit up in happy surprise.

On Tuesday we had an extremely pleasant trip to the city pool where Skippidy learned that she really and truly hates the hydrotube.  I'm not sure I'll be able to get her to go down again for at least another summer or two.  Bitty, however,  threw herself down the tube time after time for our entire visit.

On Wednesday Sheri took us to the Pinecreek Swimming Hole in Zion National Park.  What a treat that was!  I'm sure from now on that my kids will be begging to go there.  I'm not sure if they enjoyed the mossy rock slide or the tadpole catching more, but either way, I have a feeling we have many visits to this magical spot awaiting us.  My little niece Sienna even got me to jump off a little wall with her - enjoy my very dignified video below.

The visit was short but full of great things like long conversations with my brother, a movie date with my brother and the girls to see Minions (okay, I confess, that was not my favorite movie ever), lots of treat-runs with Sheri, late night conversations, a quick visit to my friend Marsha, hours of happy cousin time and just enough heat to chase us back to Salt Lake in the nick of time.  Just kidding.  It wasn't actually that hot.

Summer Reunions

The past few weeks have brought some very happy reunions my way.  As happens every single summer, things begin to race by in a a flash by about mid-July, and the thing that makes the summer fly is how the calendar fills up day by day.  We've been so happy to fill in the cracks in the schedule as friends have called while passing through town.

For starters, my dear friend April and her family came through.  April was one of my first friends in this neighborhood.  Before our circle of friends really started to swell, April and TerriLyn and Emily and I went for many walks, took a couple of little vacations together, and of course fit in a girls night or two.  I'll always remember the night we went to a movie together - TerriLyn and April and I both giggling and marveling at how Emily daintily ate her popcorn one salty kernel at a time while the three of us munched by the handful instead.  After the movie we drove up Emigration Canyon, pulled over to the side of the road and got out and just looked up at the stars and talked until the wee hours.  April has a frank honesty about her that I have deeply missed since her family moved to Arkansas maybe 4 years ago.  And since neither she nor her husband have family in Utah, she hasn't really had the chance to visit. When she said she was going to be driving through I jumped at the chance to pull friends together and we did indeed have an absolutely lovely evening together.  You always know a true friend by the way you fall right back into comfortable conversation no matter how many months or years have passed.  The only problem was that it made me miss her even more.

Speaking of true friends, another dear one came to town and made me feel loved because she made time to come and see me even though her schedule was quite compact. Marsha is a cute mom who has a daughter Bitty's age - we met when our daughters were in the same preschool class and we quickly became friends.  Of course the friendship started when our girls were asking for playdates together, and Marsha and I started talking more and more as we picked up or dropped off our daughters. Soon we were scheduling lunch together and talking for hours.  What's funny is that Marsha and I have no other friends in common, no circle of girls we gather with; we just really enjoy each other's company. Marsha and her family moved to St. George two years ago and we don't really even call or text each other much, but when she comes to town she always stops by.  And happily, I found myself with a couple of free days with just my girls last week - we decided to take a quick jaunt to Dixie and made time to visit Marsha in her new home for the first time. Like all kindred friends, we never run out of things to say.

Both of these darling friends have daughters who are Bitty's age, and it's been sad to see Bitty lose two dear friends to moves.  What a delight it has been to see Bitty get a chance to spend a few hours with her girl friends.  I was afraid there would be an awkward "I don't know what to talk about" distance between them, but with both of these girls Bitty just took off and had extremely pleasant alone time.  It filled my heart to see, and broke it a little again when people had to be on their way.

Last of all, my good friends Dave and Steph came into town from California.  Dave is one of my old high school Yalecrest II ward friends with whom I spent many happy hours both in high school and in college.  They gathered together a very large group of old friends and we met at the park for an evening picnic.  I can't deny it, I just did not get enough time to talk and reconnect with all the many many people who were there.  I needed hours more.  (Kid-free hours would have been nice.) There were so many dear people there, especially one old friend whom I didn't know very well in high school but became very attached to after a couple of years of college.  She stayed my loyal friend even as I bumbled through my worst dating years before my mission.  We don't get together much, but I feel joy every time I get to see her.  I tried to tell her how much it meant to me that she was my friend through the worst of times for me, and of course she brushed it off like it was no big deal; friends are friends, she said.  But it was a big deal to me, and I love her.  I should write her a note.  She's not a blog follower and will not know that I am proclaiming her wonderfulness right here.

My cup is overflowing at the moment, just relishing the friends this good life has brought me.  And thank you, summer, for sending a few of them my way.