School Projects and Valentine's Day

 Here is a horse that Lucas drew for kindergarten. He had to draw an animal he has interacted with, so he drew a horse and talked about Grandpa Kerry's horses. 

Here he is in Mrs. Stow's class way in the back.

Lucas had his Valentine's Day party at school yesterday. He came home and spread out his loot on the living room floor to show it to me and Hannah. Of course Hannah asked him if she could have a piece of candy. Instead of giving her one piece Lucas chose several pieces of candy and a pencil and gave them to Hannah. She was thrilled. Lucas said he gave them to her because she didn't get to go to school and have a party. Hannah said, "Lucas is the bestest brother in the whole world because he shares with me and everybody."

Then at lunch time they were both eating pretty quickly so they could eat their candy. Our rule is that they cannot have chips until they eat their sandwiches all gone. Well, Hannah had most of hers gone, but started whining that she wanted chips and her candy to eat. Since she was almost done I figured if she ate five more bites she'd have it gone, so I told her she had to take five more bites. She hung her head and ate two bites, then Lucas came over and ate the rest of her sandwich for her so she could have her chips and candy. Lucas, you did my mama heart proud! Thank you.

I found this taped to my bedroom door this morning. Something Zander did in school for Valentine's Day. He drew himself giving me a heart. Zander, you did my mama heart proud! Thank you.

"I just want to look pwetty Mom"

 

Happy 90th Grandpa!

 

Ninety looks good on you! As I sat pondering about what I'd write in your birthday card a flood of memories came to me. I had the best childhood ever, and you only added to it. I remember being a little afraid of you. You were kind of gruff at times, but when I think about it, it was only when we were doing something we weren't supposed to like crossing the little ditch that ran between you and your neighbor's properties, or getting in the shed, or playing in the front room. We knew our boundaries. I remember you laughing a lot and making jokes mostly. 

Some of my favorite memories of you were when you took us fishing. My favorite part was NOT having to get up early, but getting to collect the nightcrawlers out of the side lawn for our bait. We had to do that before the sun came up. You showed us how put the stakes in a circle in the ground and then we'd shock the worms out of their holes. They were fast, so we had to be quick to grab them all. I mostly remember going to the fish hatcheries to catch our fish so we would almost always be guaranteed to catch at least one fish. 

Summers were so fun at your house. The best part of summer was all the sleepovers we did at your house when Sally and Karen came up for a visit. We'd play mostly outside with all the cousins and play hide and seek, tag, Raptors, and jump on the trampoline. We'd hang out on the deck when it was hot and eat ice cream bars or popsicles. When it was too hot to be outside we played in the basement. It was the perfect place for hide and seek because it was pitch dark and there was the long hallway that went on forever. We could hide just by standing in the middle of the room and not get caught because it was so dark. I remember Uncle Garth playing with us and scaring us. One summer we were playing in the house. For some reason I decided I wanted to play outside so I ran out the back door and immediately got stung by a wasp that was flying by the door. I screamed and hid behind the grill crying. There were now two or three of them circling the door. I didn't know what to do because I needed to get back in but they were blocking the door. I decided to just run through them as fast as I could. I got stung again. On the way out it was on my finger, and on the way back in it was on my toe. I had never felt pain that bad. I was crying and screaming. Aunt Sally grabbed me and found some pennies to put over the stings with some ice. I sat on her lap as she bandaged me up.

Christmases were so fun and magical at your house. Every Christmas Eve we'd go to your house and have dinner. We'd then go downstairs to open the presents you got us, sing Christmas karaoke songs, and then you'd read the nativity story from the bible. Santa Clause would come for a visit and we'd get to sit on his lap and receive a candy cane after we told him what we wanted for Christmas. One Year I remember Santa leaving and the boys all crowed around the window so tightly and shouting out that they could see his sleigh. I couldn't get through to see until it was too late.

Picking cherries, playing with Missy and the cat (I can't remember her name), and doing puzzles on the table were also some fun things I remember. I remember getting to sleep on the trundle bed upstairs sometimes. We had so much fun growing up. Thank you for being present and being  there for us grandkids. I will always cherish these memories. 

I also have a couple memories of Grandma. She was always holding Missy. She loved her dog. I remember visiting her at work at the dairy place she used to work at with the inflatable cow. I remember her taking Becky and I to Homemaking activities and one particular super Saturday where we made some Christmas ornaments. 

One memory that is very special to me was when I was eight years old after Grandma and Grandpa Stockdale died Grandma needed to go to Franklin to go through their things at the house. Somehow I ended up going with her. I don't remember if I asked to go or she asked me first, but I got to go with her, just the two of us and Dopey. I don't remember much of what we did except go through piles of all Grandma and Grandpa's belongings. I do remember being afraid of being anywhere near the doors or walls of the house because of all the boxelder bugs that were always crawling all over the house. Those and flies were everywhere, so I stuck pretty close to Grandma. We stayed the night and we shared a bed upstairs. I remember feeling kind of weird about it, but I had Dopey in one hand and Grandma’s hand in the in other, so I was good. That's all I remember of that trip. I just felt special because I was the only one who got to go.

I love you, Grandpa. I hope to be as present with my own grandkids as you were with us. It is an honor to be a part of your family legacy.   

I Love My Family

 Grayson had his 9 month check up a few weeks ago. He has yet to reach 20 pounds. He was sitting right at 18 pounds which puts him in the 25th percentile for weight and height, but 70th percentile for head circumference, haha! He’s such a cute little guy with his red hair and brown eyes. He has the sweetest disposition...when he’s not teething. He’s been my worst baby when it comes to teething; he just gets so miserable, always wants to be held, and keeps us up at night. Currently he has 5 teeth and is trying to get three more! Hopefully he gets a break here soon. Grayson is walking! He beat Zander by a month. Unraveling toilet paper is one of his favorite pastimes right now, and he’s a tub pooper! Ever time I stick him in the bathtub he poops. Every. Single. Time. I have tried bathing him at different times of the day, and after he dirties a diaper, but so far nothing has worked. He’s been doing it for two months now. I have learned to only fill up the tub a few inches and wait until I need to clean it up and then start his real bath. 

He still loves to play peek a boo and I’m pretty sure that will be his first word. He’s tried to say it several times already. He can say dada and mama and wave bye-bye. He likes to hang onto mom and dad’s legs while we’re trying to move around. He loves music! Any time he hears music of any kind—even if one of the boys is singing he’ll stop what he’s doing turn around to see where the music is coming from, and start dancing with the biggest grin on his face. He also loves to bury his head in my chest and snuggle. It’s my favorite thing ever! He is such a joy and the older kids still can’t seem to leave him alone. The other day Hannah told me, “I love when Grayson is awake; that’s my favorite.” 

All my kids bring me such joy. Each one of them is so different and unique. Zander is very independent.

He likes to do things by himself, and he aspires to do the same things older people can do. His dad is his favorite person. Zander looks forward to spending time with dad every day reading, playing a board game, video game, lightsaber fight, or nerf gun war. He likes to wrestle and horse play a lot, play with legos, and spend time with friends. 

Lucas is my tender hearted boy. He has concern for everybody when they are feeling sad or unhappy. Lucas is also the biggest tease ever. He is a goofball and is always being silly and making people laugh. He likes to play with his siblings, especially Grayson. He can’t seem to leave Grayson alone for five minutes at a time. He is a great helper though. Lucas likes school and is excelling in all subjects. 

Hannah, my beautiful baby girl. She seems to follow in Lucas’s footsteps. She loves to be silly and tease just like Lucas. She can be really helpful when she feels like it, and she loves put things like toys, games, and clothes in all sorts of bags and boxes. She does not like to put those things back, however, so that’s something we’re working on. She likes to run around the house without clothes on in her underwear. She’s a great eater and loves to eat vegetables raw or cooked as long as she has some sort of condiment to go with the raw. She likes to feel pretty and beautiful in her Sunday and dress-up dresses just like a princess. 

Motherhood is hard. It just is. It’s challenging to cater to everyone with their individual needs, but I love being a mom. I love my family.

A Day in the Life of the Washburns

 Nothing like making bubble snakes in the middle of January.

She sucked the suds into her mouth instead of blowing them out, haha!

The kids drew their own renditions of Joseph Smith's first vision for family night.

One of Grayson's favorite things to do--he'll go into the kitchen, open up, and empty out every cupboard and drawer he can reach. The water bottles are his favorite right now.

"I just drawed on myself mom"...not to mention the carpet.

He's not a Washburn unless he can bend in half and fall asleep that way.

"See, isn't he pretty?" The joys of having an older sister.

New Years shenanigans

Let’s start off with Grayson getting his helmet off on the last day of 2020! 

We celebrated the new year with food this year instead of staying up late. We had “cake fondue” that actually ended up being a huge success! I only had angel food cake mix in the pantry and several left over bowls of frosting from Christmas cookies. So I baked the cake, thinned out the frosting, and added flavoring to all the different colors--we had coconut, blueberry, cherry, strawberry, apple, orange, and of course chocolate. We got out crushed cookies, pretzels, and sprinkles to put on top. I cut up the cake into bite sized cubes, and gave everyone a fork and we all went to town. We ended up eating 3/4 of the cake that night, haha! We topped it off by gathering In the “work room” on the bed and watched videos and looked at pictures from the year. The kids all enjoyed that. 

The next night on January 1st we took the kids downtown to see the lights at Lumaze. It was the first time they had come to Salt Lake City, and their photos and activities looked amazing online, but it was kind of a let down when we got there. There weren’t as many lights and things to se as we thought, but the kids loved it. They did a scavenger hunt and got a tree ornament as their prize when we left. They had train rides and a fun activity house that the kids played in for a while. There were slides, hop scotch bubbles, racing unicorn hoppers that Hannah refused to get on because she “wanted a real unicorn to ride on”. 

2020 In Review

 Where do I even begin? With all that has happened this year there really wasn’t too much that happened, lol. The year started off normal with reports of a virus that was spreading in China all the way across the world. I remember hearing about it for months in the news. 

March came with my birthday in the middle. I was so excited for my birthday because Stephen was finally going to take me to see the Pompeii exhibit. I had waited for months to go; I could hardly wait! My birthday came....and so did all the closures. Literally the day we were set to go the museum closed. Everything closed down and we were ordered to stay home for two weeks because the virus has started to spread across the United States at a rapid rate. People were dying—thousands of people were dying from this new virus called corona virus or covid-19 all over the world. We found ourselves in the middle of the first pandemic within 100 years. With all of the modern technology I never thought I’d ever find myself in a pandemic. Store shelves were ravaged day after day and it became hard to find toilet paper, cleaning supplies, and even food. Stephen was ordered to work from home, and we had to sanitize everything and wear masks everywhere we went.

I gave birth to my baby boy in the middle of a pandemic! On April 10th Grayson decided to hijack our wedding anniversary.

Civil unrest became rampant in May with the George Floyd stuff in Minnesota. Then came the protests and all the political nonsense. 

Mom, dad, AND Becky came to visit me and meet Grayson at six weeks old.

Lucas turned 5 and got to have his first birthday party in Twin Falls with all his cousins and grandma and grandpa.

We spent a week in Twin while Becky was here to visit and Brad took us fishing at Crystal Lake.

We went to Cherry Hill with the family and the kids all learned to swim! 

Grayson was blessed at home.

We went camping with grandma and grandpa at Lava Hot Springs and floated the river.

Zander started 1st grade and Lucas started kindergarten. They both have to wear masks, wash and sanitize their hands and belongings, and social distance themselves from their friends. At first they were on an A/B schedule only going to school for two days out of the week. The rest has been remote learning at home. That has been a HUGE adjustment for all of us.

Zander won his first flag football championship.

Grayson got fitted for a helmet to help round out his head.

Grandpa Washburn took a turn for the worse, and we didn’t think he was going to make it for a while until he eventually pulled through.

The rest of the year was spent hunkering down again from the rise of cases of covid and waiting for the holidays so we had something fun to look forward to. 

This year had many, many challenges and hardships, but for our family we were blessed beyond measure even when I didn’t see it. It has been hard emotionally for me in a lot of ways, and I spent a long time waiting for Heavenly Father to come in and “fix” me or tell me what to do and nothing happened. It wasn’t until I reflected on the year that I saw all the small and powerful ways and assurances that Heavenly Father heard my prayers-my pleas for help and forgiveness.