Fire trucks

I will be 80 and still turn around to point out fire trucks to non-existent kids in the back seat.

So imagine my surprise and my kids' joy when we saw trucks parked and available for tours beside the field during Andrew's baseball game on Saturday.

Girlie LOVED it. "Guck! Guck!" she exclaimed while pointing at the trucks.

After I got her out, she tried to climb back in.

The big boys were not there with us, but may have been too big/too cool to climb in. Andrew and James jabbered away into these headsets in the back of the wildland fire fighting truck. "I copy, do you copy? I copy, do YOU copy?"

And then these headsets in the back of the ladder engine truck.

They got to take turns practicing with the hose.

The ladder went up into the sky as we were watching Andrew's game.

Once I finally started watching Andrew play, I realized we should work more on his swing at home in our backyard.

BYU Women's Conference

Last Friday, as I try to do almost every year, I attended one of the two days of BYU Women's Conference.  

I take lots of notes, I crochet a hat in-between times to donate, and I come away uplifted and well-fed spiritually and physically (BYU brownies or Cougar Tails are always part of the trip).

I loved the beginning session, where the speaker talked about the WHY of the gospel versus the what and how. If I can get back to the why reasons, then the how it all happens will fall into place.

Being with these two sisters the whole day made me want to hang out with them more. They are so funny! And kind and creative and thoughtful. And it made me miss my sisters in other states (CA, KS, MO).

I liked the session on the Sabbath Day (often on my mind), and I really liked the session on social media use, and how to set goals for how I use it. I often think of whether I am using my time and talents in the right way, and one of the presenters is one of the LDS Church's social media producers. She says 90 percent of what is online about the Church is negative. Only 10 percent is positive. They need our help to spread goodness.

Elder and Sister Gong spoke in the concluding session (here is my quick writeup of that). They also have four sons. I am impressed by their dedication to doing good around the world.

Longtime Brazil friends

On JB's mission to Recife, Brazil, he met an incredible family, and has stayed close with them through the years.   Victor also spent time with the Richards family as an exchange student in high school.

Cleto and his wife Ana Marcia are in Salt Lake City for some church training, and Victor and his wife Ariana now go to college in Utah. So on Sunday, they came to church with us, and then we had them all over for dinner.

Victor speaks English very well. Ana Marcia is learning very fast. JB spoke to them almost the whole dinner in Portuguese. I can understand some of his Portuguese because of knowing some Spanish (I really need to brush back up on that).  But love and kindness and laughter and friendship can smooth over any language barriers.

James really wanted to act like a dinosaur, so we said to do a silly picture. Perspective is funny, Max is not almost as tall as Cleto, he was just in the foreground.

They brought a delicious Brazilian dessert, JB made pot roast and funeral potatoes and salad and green beans (mostly on Saturday because of his meetings Sunday), I made my bread and carrot cake. We ate outside in the backyard (no room inside at our table) and it was a beautiful day for it.

First Lagoon trip of the season

(picture borrowed from Collette)

We got out to Lagoon last Saturday for the first time this season, to celebrate curly-haired cousin Spencer's birthday.

Only four cousins are missing in the picture below -- new baby Silas, Carver in AZ, Kate and Harvey in ID, and grumpy nap-less Millie who didn't want to leave her stroller in the corner of the pavilion.

So Max brought the cake and ice cream to her, and fed her bites. He's such a good big brother.

Millie happied up to ride some rides for the first time. Last year I got her on the boats, train and carousel.

These teacups made Andrew ill.  The two older boys went off with their cousins to ride bigger rides, which is quite nice -- we just tell them to keep checking in.

Look at these boys staring at me through the bars.

Millie wasn't so sure about the bouncy part of this ride. I think she was too young for it.

On the way home just about everyone fell asleep in the car. It was a hot day -- 83 or 84 degrees in April, and these boys had already had basketball and baseball in the morning.

I carried James from the floor to his bed. He woke up Sunday morning and said, "Hey, I am wearing my clothes!"

Baseball Andrew

Andrew is trying baseball for the first time this spring, and I think he likes it. What he really likes, is talking to the other kids out in the field or in line waiting to bat. 

He didn't know anyone on the team on the first day, but he is a boy who quickly makes friends and really likes to make people laugh. He craves an audience.

It's no-stress, everybody gets to swing until they get a hit, no worries if it's foul just run to first base.

Here he is at third waiting to run home.

This girl stole a batting helmet.

My other kids look longingly at the post-game snacks for the team. They don't think the kids worked THAT hard to earn a juice box and granola bar. At least not as hard as they were working on the nearby playground.

Kids in our ward that are younger than James are on the same league's pre-school/K teams. They play before Andrew's first grade age group. But we decided to give James another sports-free spring.  The scars have not healed from the experience with soccer and swimming lessons.

Volleyball Maxwell

Max is fulfilling my dreams of playing volleyball again. I don't want to say I pushed him toward the team, but I did show a lot of enthusiasm when he mentioned the try-outs.

And, without ever playing a game before, he made the middle school JV team. It's co-ed, and the season only lasts a month or so, but I think he is doing great. And hopefully having fun.

His serve is so nice. Underhand, and really smooth and high-arcing. But he hates to lose, and feels it if team members aren't giving their best or if he doesn't do his best.

Volleyball has been hard on his hands, though. I feel like the air is extra-dry in Salt Lake City still from winter, and he has been dealing with really dry, cracking skin. Any tips for that would be much appreciated.

Siblings

A little Throwback Thursday the summer of 1999, to one of the only pictures when all 12  siblings were all together at once. Rebekah and I were home from college, and Joe was a couple months away from his mission. My little sister Sarah had just been born.  The photographer called me the "second mother" and had me hold my little brother. Despite that awkwardness, I do look at this with fondness. I can't imagine the family without any of them.

I almost posted this picture and description on Instagram or Twitter or Facebook on National Sibling Day last week, but never did. Maybe some of my siblings will see it here. 

Sometimes when I see all my children in a row in public, I gasp a little inside and think, "whoa, we are a big family." Yet it isn't half of what my mom had (and this is it for us).

At the library

On Temple Square

I remember my mom saying when I was pregnant with baby number 2, that I shouldn't worry about splitting my love between kids -- my heart would grow. And it has!

I subbed in Primary on Sunday in Ben's class, and the lesson was on twin brothers Jacob and Esau. They spent years apart after Jacob got the birthright, and Jacob was worried what Esau would do to him.  But when they met again,  "Esau ran to meet him, and embraced him, and fell on his neck, and kissed him: and they wept."

I feel this way when I see my siblings again. I hope my children always count their siblings as their friends.