The Hill

On the first day of our adventure last week we drove to Palmyra, New York.

We met Bryan's grandma, Aunt Lorna, Uncle Paul, sister Melinda, brother-in-law Jake, nephews Nathan and Sam, and niece Emma at the visitor's center for the Hill Cumorah. Topher and I were taking a break in a quiet room nearby when this picture was taken.

Next we hiked a very, very steep hill to see the monument of the Angel Moroni and the gold plates. I wore Topher in the Bjorn and was thankful I didn't pass out.

Then we drove over to the Sacred Grove. It was beautiful. And Topher yelled nearly the entire time we were there.

Afterward, we claimed the awesome seats that Paul and Lorna had saved for us for the Hill Cumorah Pageant that night. We met some of the cast members before the show started.

Then we shared picnic dinners and ran and played and unintentionally lost a few children and then quickly found them again and got out as much energy as possible before the show started.

It was a long, hot day, but it was really fun. We loved getting to see our family!

Not a Fan

Topher is now a seasoned six months old. That means he was recently introduced to solid food.

He did not enjoy it. After a few servings, he still does not enjoy it, but he's willing.

I'm thankful that the big kids were all so excited for Topher to eat solid food and that they delight in everything he does.

A Baptism and a Blessing

This weekend two very special events took place. On Saturday morning Phoebe was baptized into The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Bryan performed the ordinance, the Grandmas gave the prayers (Nana Cris the opening and Nana Shari the closing), and the Grandpas gave the talks (Grandpa Marc the Baptism talk and Papa Ron the Holy Ghost talk), Uncle Jordan made cookies, Aunt Leah did Phoebe's hair so it wouldn't float up in the water, I led the music, and Peter (yes, Peter) accompanied the opening and closing songs on the piano. Grandma Bonnie even came out of travel retirement to support Phoebe. True to her name, Phoebe radiated light. It was a lovely day.

Then on Sunday morning, during Sacrament Meeting, Topher received his baby blessing. Bryan gave the blessing with Papa Ron, Grandpa Marc, Uncle Jordan, and our Bishop in the circle. Peter held the microphone. Topher was blessed with a keen mind and with righteousness, among other things. During the blessing Topher was wrapped in an afghan that was made by his Great-Great-Great Aunt Bettie. She made the afghan for Peter's baby blessing and all five children have been wrapped in it for each of their blessings. Bettie passed away this year, it was poignant to have this reminder of her.

Thank you to the family that traveled to be with us for this weekend and for those that were here in spirit. I'm so happy that Phoebe chose to be baptized, that Topher was blessed, and that Bryan was (and is) worthy and able to perform both.

I love my family.

Class of '98

This weekend is my twentieth high school reunion. Sadly, I am in Pennsylvania while the reunion is in California, so I won't be there. But a friend shared this picture, one I had never seen before today, on Facebook to celebrate the weekend. 

What you can't tell from looking at this is that I had a horrible sunburn. The morning of graduation we had an outdoor rehearsal and I didn't wear sunscreen. I put lots of makeup on my face to cover it, but I couldn't do much for my arms and neck. Every hug I got that night was painful!

Thanks to the magic of Facebook, I'm still in contact with half the people in this picture. And while it's hard to believe that it's been twenty years since I finished high school, it's even harder to believe that we're only six years from a similar picture for Peter.

Still Trying to Be Clever

In the excitement of welcoming Topher, I failed to acknowledge another important birthday. This blog had its tenth birthday at the beginning of the month. I had no idea when I started writing it in May of 2008 that I'd still be adding to it in 2018.

I'm amazed at how much has changed in our family since then. We've added three children, moved eight times, lived in every time zone in the continental United States, earned another degree, made fantastic friends, and gained a myriad of experiences. This blog has been a wonderful way to record the big and little events in our lives. It has provided intellectual inspiration and a creative outlet. It's kept me from sleep but forced me to examine each day and look for what should be remembered. And because of that, so many little experiences that would have been lost are instead treasured memories.

Here's to ten years of trying to be clever!

This Is the Story of a Boy

We've now had our sweet baby boy for a week. This is the first opportunity I've had to do more than post a quick picture. Here's a bit of his story.

A week past his due date I was given the option to carry on to 42 weeks or schedule an induction. I'd never been induced, never wanted to be induced, I like when the babies come on their own. But I felt like I should take them up on their offer, which caused a lot of internal confusion and questioning. Bryan gave me a blessing of comfort and counseled me to follow my instincts.

So I scheduled the induction.

It felt odd walking into the hospital without being in labor. Bryan and I arrived at 7:30 in the morning and by 10AM I was hooked up to pitocin. I was told that they would start me at a level two and bump me up every half hour. Eight was my magic number because once I hit that level my contractions were coming every two minutes.

I chose to have an epidural, which helped, sort of, after the intense pain passed from the anesthesiologist hitting a nerve in my leg while he administered the medicine.

After a little more than five hours of pitocin, I was at a six. The doctor was pleased with how things were progressing and said she'd be back in an hour to check me. That's when the contractions got stronger. A lot stronger. I told the nurse this and indicated the huge mountains showing up on the contraction monitor only to be informed that I couldn't really judge by the visual readings. No, I responded, but I could judge by what I was feeling.

In very short order I discovered that the epidural was going to one leg and not the other. The nurse had me roll onto my side to help shift the medicine. That's when the pain of the contractions really hit. I believe the nurse thought I was being dramatic as I was curled into a ball and having trouble breathing through the pain, after all the doctor had just checked and the baby wasn't ready to come.

Except he was.

I told the nurse several times that we were very close and finally said, "I need you to go get the doctor now," in a forceful tone. This was between ten and twenty minutes after the doctor had checked me, I wasn't looking at the clock and those are the time estimates I was given. The doctor came back and barely had her gloves on in time to catch our sweet boy. I wasn't kidding, I knew it was time. Since this was my fifth experience doing this I was surprised the nurse didn't believe I understood the process.

He let out a big, long wail and let us know right away that he won't have trouble being heard in our loud household.

Between the hit nerve and the numbing medicine going to one side, I didn't regain feeling in my right leg for more than twelve hours after he was born, which wasn't swell. Even then it took several more hours for me to walk correctly.

But thankfully all the stuff that went wrong had to do with me. Our sweet boy came out perfect. He was our biggest baby at 8lbs 11 oz and 20 inches long, though we think he wasn't completely stretched out since he's fairly tall. He is cuddly, a great eater, a good sleeper, and loves to play with his daddy. The kids adore him, especially Sophie who gives him as many kisses per day as she can get away with.

There's only one thing he's missing, and after reading this post perhaps you can guess what it is.

A name.

That's right, he's a week old and still doesn't have a name. We're stumped. I've had family and friends sending me lists of name suggestions, but none of them are his name. We have until Friday to make a decision, according to the record office at the hospital, so at least we have a deadline. Sophie was firm that we stick with Bob Anderson, until yesterday. That's when she announced that we should name him Lightsaber.

Today? Today she called him Starburst.

Don't worry, she won't have the final say.

Look Who's Here!

The List of Inspiration

Tonight for Family Home Evening we all shared the talks that stood out to us from General Conference this weekend. The kids did a good job remembering the talks and were mostly able to remember details about specific talks. I loved several talks, including the entire Priesthood session. Those that really stuck with me include Larry J. Echo Hawk's, Taniela B. Wakolo's, Devin G. Durrant's, Dallin H. Oaks', Gerrit W. Gong's, Jeffrey R. Holland's, Quentin L. Cook's, and President Russell M. Nelson's.

I love General Conference.

Celebrate!

We had a wonderful weekend celebrating my brother Jordan and his bride Leah! They were married in the Washington D.C. Temple on Saturday. It was a sweet and spiritual sealing and then a fun reception afterward. And with all that excitement, I took almost no pictures. I pulled my camera out while Bryan danced with the girls at the reception...and that's it. So, until I can borrow some photos from other people, enjoy these few. Bonus, you can see my sister-in-law Falisha dancing with Cooper and Sophie as well as my brother-in-law Eugene dancing with his baby girl Emma. Oh! And I just noticed that the bride and groom are visible in the back left corner of the pictures. Well, I guess these pictures captured more than I thought they would.

Congratulations Jordan and Leah! We're so happy that you're married and that we could be there with you on Saturday!

Camera Obscura

We enjoyed the eclipse thanks to Bryan's homemade camera obscura. It was fun to watch that tiny moon change shape and shrink. We also had one pair of official, keep-your-vision-intact glasses that we passed around, thanks to our friends and neighbors who drove by and saw us staring at our poster board. We weren't in the path of totality, but we still had fun.

Sweet Sixteen

Sixteen years ago today, many of our loved ones gathered with us at the San Diego Temple. Bryan wore a tux, I wore a white dress, we made life-changing promises, we smiled all day.

As a very young twenty-year-old I chose to say yes when Bryan proposed. I said yes again as a slightly older twenty-one-year-old bride.

It is the best choice I've ever made.

Happy sixteenth birthday to our family!

A Tooth Story: TBT Edition

I just found this unpublished post from exactly five months ago. Phoebe lost all four of her front teeth in rapid succession. She had a little help from a brother's accidental elbow to her mouth that resulted in lots and lots of blood. But don't worry, that's not included in the pictures.

And, not to be outdone by his little sister, Peter lost two teeth that week as well. With all the talk of missing pearly whites, Sophie began telling anyone that would listen that her teeth were loose and would be falling out very soon.

Learn As You Go

In the week before our Christmas parties, we learned a few important things:

1. Make sure that your ward has a Santa suit and it's available. Do not rely on assurances of "We've had one in the past" or "I think we share one with another ward." These are speculative, not definitive.
2. Tell the ENTIRE ward when you'll be setting up the tables for the party, just in case the High Priests decide to take all the tables you need and use them for another activity. Also, if they do take them, ask the missionaries to be there when the tables are returned so they can do the heavy lifting of unloading and setting them up.
3. If a person says that doughnut holes are easy to make, remember that easy doesn't equal fast. A Cake Pop maker speeds up the process, but not enough.
4. 700 doughnut holes are too many for one person to make.
5. It's important to find out where the tablecloths are housed before you actually need them, just to avoid extra stress and unnecessary tablecloth tin cupping.
6. When a person says they will play Santa, follow up and confirm. Otherwise they might not show and then you'll have to turn to the unsuspecting committee member standing next to you and say, "Well, I guess that means you're going to be Santa."
7. Have a backup for your electronics. That way when the TV you were going to use to show the narrated e-book of the Polar Express dies, you don't have to totally freak out. It also helps if your husband is a tech wizard.
8. Adult parties mostly need time for chatting and a little structure for entertainment.
9. Kid parties need complete structure and almost no time for chatting, because chatting quickly turns into running around the church building.
10. When you discover you have twice as many kids as you had planned for, divide and conquer. Have half of them do games while the other half watches/listens to a story, then swap the groups. It will be hectic for you, but will keep kid chaos to a minimum.
11. When serving hot chocolate to kids ALWAYS USE LIDS.
12. Adrenaline can substitute sleep for only so long. In my case, it's about three days.

After a nap, two nearly full nights of sleep, and another nap I almost feel human again. I'm going to see about getting another full night of sleep now to bring me all way the back up to speed.

Fourteen!

Today is our fourteenth wedding anniversary! In preparing for this post, I discovered that it's been awhile since Bryan and I took a picture together, just the two of us. When he heard that, Bryan suggested we take a selfie. We found a blank wall, grabbed my camera, and started smiling. It only took 119 tries to get this picture. Seriously. But don't worry, we were laughing a lot, even during the pictures that didn't make the cut.

Happy Anniversary Bryan!

Six Moons

Our sweet Sophie is six months old! We celebrated the momentous occasion by dressing her in this adorable outfit that my friend made for her. She also got to try solid food for the first time. She's a fan. The viscosity is throwing her off a little, but she'll get the hang of it.

Thanks to my brother-in-law Dallin for filming the first feeding. Sophie likes the food almost as much as she likes the spoon.



The last six months have simultaneously flown by and lasted forever. Sophie is a fun six-month-old. She's interactive and giggly and loves all of her siblings. And they all love her. She sleeps better than I do. I thought babies that slept were the stuff of tall tales, but I have one of these mythical creatures at my house. I'm certain her ability to sleep (and put herself to sleep when drowsy!) is what has kept me sane.

Sophie loves to play games. Ever since she was tiny she and Bryan have played a game where she sticks out her tongue like a lizard testing the air, then he mimics her. They take turns and are both delighted by it. Her newest game involves kisses. I hold her up to my cheek and say, "Kisses?" and she leans in and plants a slobbery baby smooch on my face. Then I pull her back and grin at her and say, "Yay!" in an exited voice. And then she giggles and smiles, which is of course why I play the game.

Sophie is still tall. She is 71% for height, and only 82% for head circumference, which means she has the smallest head of all my kids. Maybe she'll be able to find helmets that both fit and are made for her age range when she gets older?

People don't ask about her birthmark much anymore, except to tell me about someone they knew that had one that faded on its own. I assume that once we move and meet new people we'll get more comments on it. One thing that continues to garner remarks is her hair. No one expects a baby to have hair that touches her back. It's still wispy, but it sure is long in some places.

She can roll from her back to her front and from her front to her back, though she doesn't do either very often. She's usually content to play where she is and only occasionally has the need to roll.

She has a natural sweetness and calmness about her that we need in our house. She is observant and alert and is happy to be held by anyone as long as she's not hungry. When she is hungry, she nuzzles into my shoulder and neck. That's her way of saying, "I need some food."

I sure love this sweet girl.

Aggies

Every once in a while we decide to completely lose our minds and drive for two days, spend two days somewhere, then drive back for two days. Utah was lovely. Bryan's brother is now a college graduate. Sophie met her great-grandma and great -grandpa and several additional family members. And the big kids loved playing with cousins and friends.

We're now home. We're all exhausted. And the trip was totally worth it.

Family Ties

When we found out that Sophie would be born in December, I realized that there was a chance we could have a baby blessing and a baptism on the same day. And that's just what we did. We're thankful that so many family members could join us for these two important events.

This picture was taken after the blessing and before the baptism. 

Dressed In White

Yesterday was a very important day for our family. I don't have access to many pictures yet, but I will share two that should give a good idea of what happened.

Event one:

Event two:

Guess Who Decided to Join Us

Hi-Ya

Phoebe wasn't the only one in our family to try something new this week. Today Peter and Cooper had their first day of Taekwondo. We stopped in yesterday after school and got them signed-up for a trial. So really, yesterday could be referred to as "The Day Margot Dropped a Crazy Amount of Money on Activities for Her Children." Or, you know, Monday works too.

The boys were nervous and excited. Cooper's class was first. He was consistently a step behind everyone else, but I'm hoping that was just because it was his first day. The instructors were sweet and gave him a little extra attention when each new move was introduced.

Cooper is the farthest child from the camera

Peter stayed up with his class pretty well. The teachers were strict and neither boy spoke out of turn as far as I could tell. That might be the longest either boy has gone without talking.

Peter can be seen through the right-hand pane of glass

When we got home they were each eager to demonstrate what they had learned. Cooper conducted a short class with Phoebe to share with her his newly acquired skills. It was followed by a ballet lesson from Phoebe.

They go back for another class in a few days. Hopefully the magic won't have worn off by then.