The importance of family

 JB's dear Aunt Becky passed away from cancer last week. I remember how kind and funny she always was to me since I met her. I pray her sweet husband and children and grandchildren will feel peace. I admire the closeness of the Richards cousins, and give a lot of credit to my in-laws for working hard through the years to keep the families connected.

Many Richards family members came into town for the viewing and funeral. My little kids all had no school and I had work that day to juggle, but JB was able to go north to the funeral.  He caught a picture with some of his family members who were there.

The remaining living children of Rulon and Golda: Malcolm, Harriet and John.

I am grateful they were all able to attend and be together, after a year of funerals restricted by the pandemic. 

I am also grateful for Pauline's invitation to have family over for dinner on Saturday to be together again before people flew or drove back home. Here are a lot of the second cousins at John and Pauline's house.

Here is JB with his Texas cousins, Greg and Ryan. They have gotten along really well their whole lives, and we really enjoy their families.

I hope and pray our children will grow up to be close with both sides of our family. I think there is a power in staying connected to your roots and to your family. You feel more of a sense of self, knowing where you came from, and the family who came before you.  We shared lots of family stories and memories with our kids this Memorial Day weekend.

Preschool graduate

Our last baby is done with preschool. Now she wants to know when she starts kindergarten. She does not understand the phrase, "In three months."

It has been the best preschool. We loved Highland High's preschool for our boys, but they were closed for the pandemic. Another parent told me about Magic of Learning in our neighborhood, just a couple of streets over, in a home. We were able to carpool, and Miss Collette was the sweetest, nicest teacher for our girl. 

They did lots of artwork and learned songs about the letters and Millie constantly has been writing her name and drawing our family.

And last month they took a field trip to Wheeler Farm. (It is a Salt Lake County facility, and they were required to wear masks even outside, until they finally relented to the new CDC data.) I went with her. Here is her turn as they walk to shake the jar of cream. At the end they had butter.

Looking at a big cow and telling it MOOOO

With Zoey (bandaids from falling out of our hammock and scratching her head)

With her bestie Penny

But her favorite part was this tiny house

Miss Collette would post pictures a lot of their activities, like working with shaving cream and paint.

"It's so satisfying," she told her teacher.

And here is her last day and art show. It was last Wednesday, so the big boys were remote and were able to come.

She was a little overwhelmed by the end when I wanted to take her picture with Miss Collette so I held her.

When she got her certificate and crown, Miss Collette said Millie's favorite parts of preschool were the babies and playing shopping. All good things, all good things!

New recommendations

Behold my latest recommendations. I went back through my previous posts and almost typed some of those titles again, because I've read or watched them again.

Books

The Other Wes Moore - a true story about two boys who  grew up with the same name in Baltimore and had similar situations but vastly different outcomes (one goes to prison for murder, the other ends up a Rhodes scholar)

Boys in the Boat - I could not stop talking about this to anyone who would listen. The story of the University of Washington 8 man crew team who came together and beat the world in the 1936 Olympics in Berlin.

Roses of Felstone, A Proper Charade, and others by Esther Hatch. These are just fun and light hearted but still with some deeper characters and moments.

A Place for Miss Snow, Miss Whitaker Opens Her Heart and others by Jennifer Moore. Quick regency-era reads in different locations like India, Greece, Australia and Jamaica. 

Books for kids

Gregor the Overlander -- I just started reading book two at night to the little boys. It's good stuff. Ben read these a couple years ago by himself. 

I feel like I read out loud to the big boys for several years but then stopped because I had more babies to take care of and also wanted to read to the little boys. I keep the door open so the bigs can listen but they often come close it, hahaha. I just finished months and months of reading them "The Hobbit" then "Lord of the Rings."

Nathan Hale's Hazardous Tales and One Dead Spy series -- Ben loved them, now Andrew loves them.

Dog Man (Mothering Heights, Grime and Punishment, Fetch-22, Lord of the Fleas) --Andrew was astonished that these are actually satire of real classics.

Origami Yoda series  -- graphic novel and chapter books combined with crafts. If you have a young Star Wars fan who isn't so fond of reading, try these!

Two Dogs in a Trenchcoat Go to School - Andrew has these in the stack by his bed and says I can't return them to the library, yet. He wans to re-read them.

James got signed up for Sora online, and only searches for Spider-Man and dinosaurs books to read. That's also all he grabs at the library as well, or Lego learning to read books or how-to-build books.

Millie lately loves Brown Bear, Brown Bear, What Do You See? (RIP Eric Carle), and any Fancy Nancy or Barbie or Disney princess book she sees at her eye level at the library. Favorites still include Mo Willems pigeon books and The Paper Bag Princess ("You, Ronald, are a bum!")

Movies

Fisherman's Friends on Netflix -  A group of fishermen who sing sea shanties get signed to a record label as a joke, and then do really well

Boys of  '36 - an hour long documentary of the Boys in the Boat. I checked it out from the library and loved seeing more from the book.

The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings -- I watched one of these a week with the boys, so it took a long time. Halfway through the first movie, James said, "When does he go to the lava and throw in the ring?" "Oh honey," I said, "Not for a long time."

Oklahoma! - remastered on Disney+ and just as beautiful as ever. But, warning w/ kids in the room, the pictures on the wall in Judd's shack are much clearer, yikes.

On Moonlight Bay and the sequel, By the Light of the Silvery Moon - Doris Day and Gordon McRae and I can't believe I didn't grow up watching these, because I loved them. They are so fun.

Tea for Two -- same stars as above, with Gene Nelson, who is also in Oklahoma. Fun dances and songs. I checked out a Doris Day collection from the library and need to get it back again, because I never have enough time to watch DVDs. I can watch something on my phone easier by piecemeal.

As Luck Would Have It -- Hallmark, with Allen Leach and Joanna Garcia-Swisher. I like both of these actors (Downton Abbey, Privileged, Astronauts Wives Club). This was in Ireland and cheesy and fun, just like I like my Hallmark movies.

And I didn't mind the season finale of When Calls the Heart because I picked Team Lucas from the beginning and I love to win!

Other

Latter-day Saint Women, Church News, Follow Him podcasts. Great listening on a Sunday or any day

Dr Octavia Cox lectures on YouTube. She breaks down and analyzes Jane Austen characters and plot points. You can listen in her earbuds like a podcast, or watch the video to read the selected text when she shows it.  My brother Michael and sister Rebekah told me about it. And a recommended video then came up from Ellie Dashwood, also talking about literary characters and techniques. The Humanities Minor inside me is v pleased. 

Next I will try Dr Kat (Reading the Past) who talks about English history. Weird History is also a fun channel that seems to suck me in based on topic (Hygiene habits of the Victorian era? OK!)

Ben the friend

We are so proud of Ben. He made Orchestra Two (the tougher one) before middle school started. But for months and months he had to practice alone downstairs in his room, with Zoom orchestra classes because our district would not allow in-person class choice. 

Then halfway through, his teacher started allowing small groups. After one of those, he came back saying he learned more about how to play the violin after one hour than he had in months. 

A normal year would have a few concerts. They finally got to have one (and the only one) last week. We only got two tickets and had to sit far apart. Max and the other kids watched on Zoom with a guy who kept eating potato chips and his video would bounce to the front. Oh, and a woman eating from a big jar of pickles in the corner.

But anyway, it was a really fun concert. Maybe because they kept it short, haha.  The orchestra sounded great. We got to hear how the music all sounded together instead of just his part. 

They put on sunglasses for Secret Agent Man, and then at the end they turned off the lights and had glow sticks stuck to their bows. Darth Vader had a fight in the corner.

So we got his picture afterward with the characters. His shirt says, "I survived online orchestra."

Here he is with his friend Brayden outside afterward.

Another fun thing for Ben -- he ran for SBO, and will be a Student Body Officer next year in 8th grade, like Max was. He was worried about his friend Benji who he thought should have made it, too, but didn't. So he used his own money to buy him a feel-better gift and dropped it off at his house.  Then he was aw shucksy embarrassed when that friend mentioned the act of service in a talk at the stake center.

Ben also for months has had a group of basketball buddies. They would meet to play when they weren't allowed in school. I think it really lifted their spirits and kept them from being isolated and sad. One of those friends, Quinn, mentioned this in a talk in church as well, and Ben was happy that they were able to help each other.

Tennis regions

 Max and his doubles partner Asher did so great at the tennis region tournament last week. Max has been partnered with Porter and with Asher and once with Calvin off and on this season as they've all moved up and down the ladder (they are all super close).

JB was on his long-planned canyoneering trip that Friday, so he couldn't go. But the two little boys had their remote day at school, so I took their homework packets with us and brought lots of snacks and water. Papa came to watch, too. That's his shoe on the right but I forgot to get his picture with Max. 

During the tournament, they won their first match against Murray, and it was really fun to see the improvements they have made. 

Then they fought for every point in their next match against Olympus. They did much better against them than they had the previous time they met this season, so they felt vindicated even though it was ultimately a loss.

We are proud of this tall boy! 

7-3 on the season. Guess where he was Saturday morning? Back at the courts.

Larry and Little Blue John canonyeering

 JB was able to go with his backpacking buddies on a trip this week to Larry Canyon and Little Blue John Canyon in eastern Wayne County, Utah.  He has gone on various adventures with this group for many years, and I was glad they got a trip together this spring. It's good for him! 

Did you know, Butch Cassidy and his gang used to hide out in these canyons? They are called the Robbers Roost area.

Also, Aaron Ralston was in the lower section of one of those canyons, when he got stuck and lost his arm.

I'm just glad I didn't see the heights myself up close.

These were some very narrow slot canyons!

And they found a friend (Travis loves lizards and frogs)

For those two nights, I stayed up late and slept in the middle of the bed and tried to cook. We were glad to have him back again!

Joined at the hip

 JB secretly takes photos of Millie and me. Especially when we are reading scriptures at the table, or I am trying to get work done.

She's always on my lap or right in the thick of things.

And if it's not me....it's JB.

She may have to come with us in retirement or on a mission.