Feeling Like Fall

 Michael:
Worked hard at work and hard at home this week. He's digging up our entire side yard outside of our fence to change it from dying grass/weeds to mulch/rocks/plants. He worked so many hours out there! It's going to be a lot of up front work but then it'll look better and be less maintenance. He's such a hard worker. We also went to a retirement party for an assistant who retired just before Michael joined his practice. It was fun to meet his coworkers' families. Our boys were sooo wired at that party -- I forget that they quite literally just don't get out much anymore. So they were just having the time of their lives eating chips and playing corn hole. He took me on a date to Ginger and Baker on Saturday night and it was such a cute place. They're famous for their pie, so I had to order chicken pot pie for dinner and apple pie for dessert. It was the best pie crust I've ever had. I really want to learn how to make pie like that! Pies are my biggest kitchen failures. It's so fun to get on dates more regularly now that we have some babysitter options and no nursing babies.

Maddie:
I spent a couple hours clearing our old water fixture of rocks so that Michael could pile dirt/grass in there, and so that he could have more time digging with the missionaries when they came by to help instead of having to spend their time clearing rocks. I rarely work outside with Michael -- there's just always so much do be done inside and outside and our worlds have naturally split, but I liked doing a little bit of that project. Inside projects (except painting) get so quickly undone or need redoing. Looking at you, laundry. I finally visited a specialist about my wrist this week, and got a steroid shot for tendinitis. I hope it helps -- I'm so tired of it being in constant pain. I didn't paint any walls this week because of giving it some rest, which was such a bummer since I was so excited to roll all those walls I've spent so long edging. I did do some trim while wearing my brace but decided to take a little break from bigger projects for a little bit. So this week I spent my painting time reading instead and it was fun to read a couple novels. I haven't read much since moving because of all the paint hours.

Westin:
is pretty over online school, aren't we all. He loves Halloween and keeps wishing we had more decorations or spooky snacks. I feel like I'm spending all my house energy getting us to a "blank canvas" state and holiday decorations just feel far away. But I should get a couple things just so he can love putting them up. He helped my neighbor decorate her house for Halloween with her granddaughters and he really loved that. I've been feeling a little melancholy about how much time he wants to play with friends lately instead of be at home, which I know is so silly -- I'm always wishing for breaks to get things done. But it's Camden I need breaks from to be productive, not Westin... haha. I love you, Camden. 

Bennett:
was being so silly during his online speech therapy this week and it was cracking me and his speech therapist up. He was playing a game with her where you choose one of two objects to feed to this little cartoon man. One is always a food object and one isn't, but he purposely chose the non-food item every time and then would just giggle and giggle and giggle as she'd feed the man a boat, or a jacket, or whatever else he wasn't meant to eat. Bennett was just cracking up. This is their last week of online school, woohoo! We went and played at the playground a few times this week during lunch, and one time a group of boys were unkind to Bennett and Westin. Kids are kids and we get that, but I LOVED the way they stuck together and had each other.

Camden:
The magnet, the monkey, the whiner. These are his names right now and we love him. He's just bored, I can tell. His body isn't quite keeping up with all he wants to explore, and COVID keeps us from too many fun field trips. But he does love laughing at his brothers and playing with little cars. He does just fine when babysitters come, and he loves Kitty. He empties the play kitchen of all its contents about 4 times a day. He takes that job seriously. I'm tired of cloth diapers, but I've made it this far and it is really nice to have so much less trash... but I feel like once my kids hit a year I have to change them even more often and they also start hating being changed more, so, it's not the best combo. He still looks so much like baby Westin to me.

Sometimes he's my little island helper.
That often gets cut short when his helping becomes hazardous.

Making a man with his school friends

We should've bought this play kitchen two years earlier than we did.
It gets played with every day by all ages.

Diggin' up those holes

Westin LOVES a good holiday snack project.
He found this little magazine in our junk mail and was so thrilled about making all of them.

Our friends were over for a bit on Friday and we made some paper bag jack-o-lanterns.

Left side of the doorway trim vs. Right side...
I just can't believe how much white trim makes a difference.
I love white and bright so much.

We had pumpkins for seriously just a few hours before squirrels had a feast.
This probably explains why no one else in our neighborhood has pumpkins out yet.

I mean, he doesn't even care about us being very close to him at this point.
Just loving his fall feast.

This chicken pot pie. I don't even love chicken pot pie. I just have to order what a place is famous for or I feel like I'm majorly missing out. It was so delicious.

Such a cute place.

Here we go, 32!

 We started the week off with mom's birthday! A Monday mom-life birthday is what it is, BUT, these cuties were fun to spend it with. We did a library trip, Goodwill trip, paint store trip, and grocery pick up. Michael brought home dinner and some Trader Joe's treats, and for my birthday he's going to help me put up shiplap and board and batten soon :) But he's not allowed to touch my saw. 

We skipped a lot more school this week and just spent more time outside and reading books. We also went to the school for lunch most days, which the boys love. They get to eat outside and see friends at the playground, and I get to chat with a couple friends from the ward. We stay apart and wear masks, but then the kids play on the playground together and I just wonder if that's ok. But my kids need it so much. Life is still so far from normal. I also went to book club this week, and met a group of girls from my ward to go walking on Saturday morning out by the reservoir. Michael has been working super hard in the yard and is gearing up for changing our entire side yard by the street into mulch/flowers/rocks instead of weedy dying grass. We found out (from a helpful question-answerer at the plant nursery here) that the aspens in our backyard are past the point of no return and I'm SOO SAD. They're right by our porch, they're my favorite type of tree, our twinkle lights are connected to them, and I stare at them and think of how much I love them all the time. But they are dying :( :( :(

Westin and Bennett play such funny games together. They like to pretend they run a zoo or a pet store or a restaurant downstairs, or find acorns for squirrels, or go on a date (with one parent, that's what makes it a date haha) to Sprouts. On Saturday we did a 7-mile bike ride along the Spring Creek Trail and it was gorgeous. Westin did such a good job riding that long. Then we had some friends of friends over for dinner and it was so fun to meet the Dimonds. Our kids loved playing with their sweet older kids, and when I put Bennett to bed that night he said "I just miss those guys."

We got the news this week that they're moving up the start of school and we're SO excited! Just two more weeks of online learning. Then Bennett is back to full time preschool and Westin will be part time online and part time in person. We love Fort Collins so much.

Skipped (online) school. Went to the library instead.
I'm grateful that sending pictures of things like this to their teachers counts for attendance.

Where else would we go on my birthday but....
the paint store! But this time we bought some accent wall colors instead of more white,
woohoo!

Even all the way from Texas, Emily is the sweetest friend.

Another page of his letter book for school.

Bennett loves to color while brother does school.

I feel this. Life is so busy right now.

An updated side by side of our progress!

Bennett falls out of bed a lot and he's so cute.
I sent this to Ali and she thought it was Westin, because I gave Westin's clothes to Bennett and got Westin the next size up. They are so close to each other's size and both are so big :(

So enthralled with the Halloween decorations their mom will never buy.

Edging the stairwell felt like a big accomplishment this week!

The boys are having fun playing with their remote control car on our deck lately.

Our walk is always the moment of the day when I think,
"Life is so good."

Adding some of her influence to the bones of our house.

I took out this window this week to paint the inside panes black. 
I think it made a big difference!

Piano room windows are done, edging is done...
this week is the fun part!

Two-Day Winter

This week was so strange with weather and smoke,
but I honestly loved the moody weather. I haven't been HOME and in cold weather in a long time. I only visited cold weather. So to be home in my sweats, making soup, watching snow fall from my windows, I was just giddy. That's probably partly because I knew it was going to warm right back up again in a couple days. I'm not READY ready for winter, but that little taste of it was so fun.

We came home from Keystone Monday night, and Michael had just a little bit going on at work on Tuesday and Wednesday. We had an online parent teacher conference with Westin's teacher and she's so sweet. Westin did school at our neighbor's house two days this week and he loved loading his backpack up and "going" to school. Bennett didn't want to do much with his class this week, but he did love his cutting practice during one of their small group days. He's coloring a lot while I paint and we're working on counting still. Camden is switching to one nap and not crying when he goes down at bedtime again, so that's a welcome change. It will make mornings feel a little long as we have to have him up during school now, but we'll bring back quiet time for the other two boys now during his nap and that's going to be great. On Saturday we did a homestead tour, looking at yards who grow lots of food and have chickens/bees. It was fun to see what people do with their space. We went to a neighbor's birthday party after and it was fun to meet their friends and get to know them more. We live by such friendly people. That night Michael and I went on a date to get Mexican food because there's just something in me that will forever associate birthdays with cheese enchiladas. The food wasn't great but it was better than NOT eating cheese enchiladas on my birthday date. But we'll try a new spot next time we go out for Mexican food. I spoke in church today (twice at two small sacrament meetings) about kindness and charity and I loved studying that topic all week. I'm putting my talk down below after the pictures.

I slowed down painting this week because I'm still making my window frames black, this time in the dining room, and that's just a slow tedious project. But after that I'll go on to edging the walls white and paint some actual walls this week! Painting walls is the best -- easiest, fastest, biggest impact of all the painting I do around here. 

September is the best! I need a good fall candle!

Snow! Such a crazy drop in temps -- about 60 degrees in a day.

The boys wanted to build a snowman but we're not quite there yet.

My new toy came! Time to do some wall treatments around here!

Bennett likes to color from edge to edge to edge to edge. 

With some of the table thrown in for good measure.

He had a preschool assignment to take pictures of different feelings and post them to his class page.
First: Happy!

Sad

Angry! (I see that smile Bennett, you can't fool me!)

Surprised!

Silly

Excited!

Westin did school with his friend Jocie at her grandma's house a couple times this week.
Bennett colored by me during my painting.
If Camden's asleep, I'm painting!

Trim done on the left, moving on to the right.

Getting Cam's workout in!

We visited a local bee shop to restock our honey and learn about hives in Fort Collins.

These boys looked hard for the queen but we couldn't find her until the owner helped us out!

Batman shirts!

Bennett doesn't love online preschool,
but he does like the smaller group work they sometimes do.
This was a lesson on how to use his scissors and he nailed it :)

He cut lots of paper,

then laughed and laughed when he cut up plastic straws and the pieces shot across the room.

His laugh is the best sound.

Facetiming this cute girl!
I watched her while Ali blowdried her hair haha.

Coloring with friends next door.

We're so lucky to have the neighbors we have.

Bennett got tired on his bike but has to keep up with that speedy brother!
He's got a smaller pedal bike coming his way for his birthday soon.

Homestead tour. So cool what people do with their space!

Peeking for chickens!

We found some barstools!
I'm so excited to have a set spot for my kids to help me cook now.

Still wrinkly, but I got a super good deal on this rug and it has made me so happy this week.

Slowly coming together.

First time wearing shoes!
At almost 14 months old haha.
Dressing babies is overrated. White onesies for life.

We knew this would happen sooner or later...
It's not going to be the last haha.

Sometimes we walk to get lunch at the school,
and Westin was thrilled to see a spork in his bag.
He has been so excited to make his own forky ever since.

I miss Indy!

“Kindness in Hard Times”

 

Introduction:

Southern Utah & Southern Indiana. Youngest, family in Utah. Five sisters, family all over. Both went to BYU, would have never met on campus because Microbiology and Communications. Luckily, both to BYU Jerusalem Center. Airport, weight limit and more bags, my mom’s first words ever spoken to Michael were, “Don’t let her corrupt you.” Jury’s out on where we stand there. After semester abroad, dated through my last year at BYU, then internship in DC. Michael finished, Event planning in Provo, married Jordan River Temple in 2012. Immediately moved to Indianapolis, dental school and Healthcare marketing. Westin born, home with him. Fresno for oral surgery residency, had Bennett. Camden last summer. Researched where we could be central to family, have a good life with lots of outdoor time. Fort Collins feels like our good forever fit, loved it so far.

 

Today I was asked to speak about a topic that has actually been heavy on both my mind and heart for months. Specifically, about kindness and charity during this year that feels particularly trying and divisive.

 

Matthew teaches us that our first commandment is to love God with all our heart, and the second is to love each other that same way. These two commandments are the foundation of all we are asked to do. As I reread further in Mathew we learn the Savior said “Verily I say unto you, inasmuch as ye did it NOT to one of the least of these, ye did it NOT to me.” Are there times when we withhold kindness, for whatever reason? That can be different than being unkind, but doing it not unto others is doing it not unto Christ.

 

We probably all have a memory of a bold, or even more likely, a small, act of kindness that made an impact on our life. What if we withheld kindness that could have been that for someone? What we do NOT unto others we do NOT unto Christ. Learning to receive revelation, then acting on that, is critical to do unto others what Christ would. I could list multiple acts of kindness right now that probably seemed insignificant to the giver. They would probably be surprised to hear the way I remember them. But they weren’t aware of my circumstances at the time, or the prayers I was praying. And so often God answers our prayers through His servants. In residency I spent a lot of time alone with my children, while Michael had an incredibly busy schedule. We became very good at eating meals with just each other, and keeping super flexible expectations about when we’d be able to spend time with Michael. At one point I had a health issue come up that needed weekly physical therapy appointments, and I immediately knew I would not be able to make that happen because of childcare. One of my best friends, who was 83, and my bread-making mentor, asked me one day if there was any time that week that I could use someone to watch my boys during the day. I was so surprised to have her kind spontaneous offer that first week I had an appointment. When I came home, she learned more about where I’d been, and told me to plan on her once a week for as long as I needed. She spent two hours weekly with my young boys at a time when I had no family around, and she made it possible to take care of myself in a way I never could have without support. She repeatedly told me it was no big thing, but she will never understand how big of a difference that made to my life during that stage. Or maybe: story of LoRane watching my kids during physical therapy, or story of Ami Bunker taking Westin out so I could hear Michael speak, or story of Becca and the avocado, or story of Westin sharing his fish food with Bennett, or story of the woman at the donut shop in Keystone, or….

 

Like with tithing, blessings always come back to us more than we give. Kindness is our commandment, happiness is the blessing. We don’t need to worry about how that connects with the person who received our kindness. It’s not our job to determine if they were deserving of it, or grateful enough for It, or if they responded to it the way we expected — everything else is all up to the Lord. Our reward comes from Him, and not always in the way we expect to see it. Our actions are all that we can control. He takes care of all that needs to be taken care of. Christ taught it is “More blessed to give than to receive”. True for kindness in our marriages, families, friendships. It’s not our job to measure or keep track — if we are kind, and live like Jesus, all else will be taken care of by Him. Kindness will always be the right way to handle a situation in parenting or in marriage. Our children are always deserving of kindness. We should not mistake kindness for weakness, in others or ourselves.

 

The other thought on my mind regarding charity, is that we need to teach kindness in new ways because there are so many new ways to be mean. We keep in touch with others very differently now. It’s possible to know more about each other’s opinions and beliefs than ever before. “Be Kind” is being taught and focused on more than when I was growing up, but that can’t stop in our online presence. If we’re teaching and striving for kindness, does that extend to the memes we’re sharing or the judgments we’re forming of others with differing beliefs? We’re entering a phase of such casual casting of stones, which can desensitize us from the unkindness that is becoming normal. Be kind to those who are different from you. Better yet, learn from those who are different than you. When we keep our hearts, and ears, and minds open, we will be better able to have pure love for each other.

 

I’ve been spending hours painting ever since we moved into our new home. This week, I turned on conference talks focused on kindness during those late nights of painting. I heard a distinct pattern in the way that President Hinckley concluded multiple sessions of conference. He always asked us to leave being a little kinder, a little softer in our voices, our hearts a little more open to seeing the worth and needs of others. I can feel how important that is for our situation right now. Socially, politically, mentally, we are all being stretched. Being kind will help that more than we can even know.

 

Gordon B. Hinckley gave a talk called “The Dawning of a Brighter Day”. After discussing how heavy the war in heaven must have been before we each came here, He said, “Perilous times? Yes. These are perilous times. But the human race has lived in peril from the time before the earth was created. Somehow, through all of the darkness, there has been a faint but beautiful light. We must do all that is required in moving forward the work of the Lord in building His kingdom in the earth. We can never compromise the doctrine which has come through revelation, but we can live and work with others, respecting their beliefs and admiring their virtues, joining hands in opposition to the sophistries, the quarrels, the hatred—those perils which have been with man from the beginning.”

 

My 5-year-old has been known to declare a day the best day of his life, and then the worst day of his life, within 30 min of each of those statements. More than once. I find myself relating to that more than ever, though. These are our own perilous times, the best of times and worst of times. There are silver linings to the clouds that are over us right now. Each of us have different pains and different blessings that are coming from this unique year. I know that kindness, and hearing the Spirit, will allow us to dwell on the positive and increase the positive for others. I know that it won’t always fix everything. But a favorite quote framed in our home is No Kindness, no matter how small, is ever wasted.